Kubert George, accused of murdering his former partner Patricia Rose four years ago, yesterday told a jury that police had fabricated a confession in the statement he gave to them about his last meeting with the woman.
After George, 66, led his defence in a sworn statement at the High Court yesterday, prosecutors Dhanika Singh and Konyo Thompson closed the state’s case and closing arguments were made by them and defence counsel Peter Hugh. Justice Navindra Singh, who is presiding over the trial, is to sum up the evidence today before handing the case over to the jury for deliberation.
George is on trial for the murder of Rose, who died on May 8, 2009, months after she was allegedly stabbed by him months earlier, on November 1, 2008. He said that he and Rose were no longer in a relationship at the time of the stabbing but he would still visit her at her work place every other day.
In his statement to the police, which was admitted as evidence in the trial, George stated that he went to Rose’s work place and called for her. He said she answered and told him she “ain’t able get up, I must jump de gate and I jump de gate with my haversack containing a kitchen knife, food and other things.”
George also said in the statement that after he scaled the fence, he started to gaff with the woman, who asked him for some money. He said he told her that the money he has was to buy rations and kerosene.
Police said he claimed Rose scrambled his clothes and “I pull out de knife out a me bag and I juk she up plenty times about she body and face. I walk out after juking she up with the knife which is about six inches.”
His statement also quotes him as saying that after he stabbed the woman, she fell to the floor in the guard hut while he jumped back over the gate and threw the knife into the gutter before riding away on his bicycle to his place of work. He also said he was sorry for stabbing her and causing her to die.
But George, who by virtue of leading his defence through a sworn statement faced questions from the prosecution and members of the jury, said yesterday that he did not confess to the crime in his statement to the police. He recalled going to Rose’s work place and jumping the gate with a knife in his hand. He said he and Rose then began talking and while he was about to leave, she held him back and asked him for some money.
George said a scuffle then ensued for about eight minutes between him and the woman after which she let go of him and he jumped back over the fence and escaped. However, about half an hour later, George said, he got a call from Rose’s daughter, Phonda, saying “you juk up ma mother.”
George did not mention stabbing the woman in his statement to the court and when questioned by Thompson he claimed that the police wrote in the additional parts of the statement. He also stated that he only became aware of the additions to the statement that he stabbed the woman at the Magistrate’s Court. “When I reach at the small court then I know what tek place. When a object to what she write in de statement [Magistrate] Hazel Hamilton tell me you done sign hey,” he said.
The jury also asked George, while he was in the witness box, what became of the knife he had in his possession and he responded that he had the knife with him in the backdam (Itabali) where he went after the incident. He said he spe
nt about two months in the backdam.
He also told the court that he was threatened by the police after he was arrested.
But Thompson, during her cross-examination, indicated to George that his allegations of the police threatening him were never put to any of the witnesses by his attorney Hugh. Thompson also suggested to George that he had fabricated the story which he told to the court for sympathy. He, however, denied the suggestion.
Meanwhile, yesterday also saw the testimony of the daughter of the deceased, Phonda Rose, who fainted while being crossed-examined. After Rose was finished giving her evidence, she fainted again and had to be lifted out of the courtroom to the hospital. Rose had also fainted on Monday while she was giving her evidence-in-chief and she had to be rushed to the hospital.
