Paul Anthony Lo Hing will remain a prisoner of the state after his first trial for the murder of his girlfriend ended with a hung jury.
Lo Hing learned his fate yesterday after the 12-member jury was unable to come to a unanimous decision on his guilt in the strangling of his girlfriend, Shoala Gilgeous, in 2012.
Members of the jury deliberated for nearly four hours before reconvening. However, they were dismissed again and deliberated for an hour and a half more before reporting their inability to reach a unanimous verdict to Justice Diana Insanally.
“We have failed to come up with a unanimous decision, Your Honour,” the head juror reported to the court. He added that initially it had been a 5 to 7 vote then finally 3 to 9.
Following the pronouncement, Insanally informed defence attorney Hukumchand Parag that his client would remain incarcerated as he awaited a new trial with a new jury.
On Wednesday, the attorney closed his case after maintaining that his client was an innocent man. He had proclaimed the evidence of State Prosecutor Natasha Backer as “hearsay evidence at its best” and added, “You are left in reasonable doubt about who committed the crime.”
Backer had closed her case on Tuesday following the testimony of pathologist Nehaul Singh, who had given evidence that Gilgeous had been strangled and had suffered blunt trauma to the head. Along with Singh the dead woman’s brother, sister and former neighbour had also testified.
Lo Hing was charged on August 30, 2012, four days after 23-year-old Gilgeous was found strangled at their ‘E’ Field, South Sophia home. Her body had been found by her niece.
Prior to the discovery, neighbours and Gilgeous’ sister-in-law had reported hearing the woman screaming. Her sister-in-law also said that the couple had been fighting earlier in the day. The couple had been living together for about 10 months and Gilgeous’ relatives and friends said that she was a victim of domestic abuse and had made numerous reports to police as a result of episodes.
