Abickie Ferguson was yesterday granted the opportunity to begin a new chapter of her life when she was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter by a jury in the High Court.
The 12-member mixed jury panel was not swayed by the prosecution witnesses’ evidence that Ferguson had killed her stepfather Glendon Scipio after he spoke to her about a television cord she had pulled out. After spending close to two hours deliberating, the jury returned to the courtroom for further advice on the aspect of manslaughter, only to return shortly after with the verdict.
The foreman then informed the court that the jury had found Ferguson not guilty of the capital offence of murder as well as the lesser count of manslaughter. However, the manslaughter verdict was based on a majority decision: 11 to one.
Scipio was stabbed to death on April 22, 2009 at Victoria Street, Plaisance. Ferguson had been incarcerated ever since on remand awaiting trial.
Justice Navindra Singh, who presided over the case, told Ferguson on discharging her that trouble was easy to get into, but hard to get out of. He advised her to walk away from such situations.
Ferguson then exited the courtroom. Her relatives followed shortly behind and greeted her as she burst into tears.
But before the case was handed to the jury for deliberation and a verdict, State Prosecutors Renita Singh and Rhondel Weever presented their last witness, Kevin Critchlow, the grandson of Ferguson’s neighbour Dora Fraser. He testified that he and Ferguson were friends but she never complained to him that she was being abused by Scipio. He said Ferguson was arrogant towards Scipio.
On the day of the stabbing, Critchlow said, he was at his grandmother’s house when he heard “things falling” over at Ferguson’s home. He went over and saw Ferguson with a knife in her hand. Critchlow said he took the knife from her and took her downstairs. He had also taken Scipio to the front of the house. Critchlow said Scipio then came
downstairs and Ferguson ran and picked up a piece of wood, resulting in Scipio running behind him. Critchlow said he then told Ferguson, “don’t lash, it gon lash me.”
He said Ferguson lashed Scipio on his hands and ran in front of the yard. Scipio also ran in front of the yard and Ferguson ran back upstairs and returned with a knife. Critchlow said her words to Scipio after she came downstairs were “touch me and you gone see”. Scipio stretched out his hand, the witness added and Ferguson “fired a juk” which caught Scipio to his chest.
Ferguson was then asked to lead her defence. She did so by giving an unsworn statement to the court. She began by saying that what she had meant when she said her stepfather abused her was physical and verbal abuse. She then went on to say that on the day of the incident she had gone home from school when her stepfather came upstairs, wrapped in his towel, and advanced towards her. She said he held her breast.
Ferguson told the court that she was alone in the house and she was afraid so she picked up a knife. Critchlow then came over and told her to put it down. Ferguson said she went downstairs and Scipio followed her and made another advance towards her. She in turn picked up a piece of wood and hit him. She said, “I ran back upstairs and he came up behind me and hit me to my face. I pick up a knife and went downstairs and he followed me again.”
She said Scipio then asked her what she was going to do with the knife and she replied, “hit me again, thinking that Kevin would protect me cause he was there.” She said that as Scipio raised his hand to hit her he got stabbed.
Her neighbour Fraser had said in her evidence that she had known Ferguson since she was a child and she was always doing wrong things, such as “having boys and when her stepfather spoke to her she would abuse him”. She also said that Scipio was stabbed after he spoke to Ferguson about the television cord she had pulled out after he put the television on.
