Calvin Bailey, who is on trial for the murder of 18-month old Shaquan Nero, yesterday told a court that it was the infant’s mother, Bernadette Nero, who inflicted the fatal wound on him.
The charge against the accused is that on April 4, 2007, at Amelia’s Ward, Linden, he murdered Shaquan Nero. He has pleaded not guilty.
Leading his defence in unsworn testimony from the prisoner’s dock, the accused said that on the day in question, Bernadette Nero, with whom he once shared a relationship, attacked him with a knife but ended up stabbing Shaquan to his neck.
Bailey, in his testimony, referred to the infant as his son. When Bernadette testified, however, she provided the name of another person as being Shaquan’s father and not the accused.
She explained that when she moved from her Agricola home to live with Bailey at Linden, Shaquan was already more than a year old.
Bailey said that after recognising that the woman had walked out on him and had taken his son (Shaquan) with her, he later sought her out at his aunt’s Amelia’s Ward home.
The man said that after arriving there, he requested to speak with her, but she refused.
Bailey said that he asked the woman what the problem was and she informed him that she would be travelling back to her home in Georgetown and would be taking Shaquan with her.
According to the accused, he repeatedly pleaded with Bernadette for his son, telling her that if she wanted to go to Georgetown, she could so do but he asked her to leave Shaquan with him as she knew the child could not sleep comfortably at nights without him.
He said that his pleas for the child were unsuccessful. Bailey added that though the woman and her relatives repeatedly chased him from the residence, he did not leave and he remained outside the yard.
He told the court that sometime after he heard Shaquan crying and he asked Bernadette for the chance to just put him to sleep and indicated that he would return the following day to take them both back home with him.
The accused related that the woman eventually allowed his request, and after he had his son in his arms, he turned around with him to leave when Bernadette stabbed him with a knife to the right elbow.
He showed the court what he said was the wound he sustained from the woman’s stab.
His story is that after that first stab, in his attempt to turn around while clutching his son to prevent him from falling out of his hand, Bernadette brandished the weapon again and connected to Shaquan’s neck.
Bailey said that after realising that she had stabbed the child, Bernadette started to cry, telling him, “yuh see wah you mek boy, you mek I juk me son.”
He said that after learning that his son had died, he told Bernadette that he was going to the station to inform the police that she had killed his son.
He said that he, however, did not, as she said she would let the police know where he planted weed.
In her testimony, Nero said that she decided to walk out of the relationship she once shared with the accused, as he had become abusive towards her.
She said that after showing up at her aunt’s home, Bailey started to curse and create a scene, while calling her names. “You think you could lef me jus like duh?” she quoted him as saying.
The woman said that Bailey then attacked her with a cutlass, which he used to chop her. She had showed the court several injuries to one of her arms, which she said she sustained during the attack.
The woman said that during the attack, she fell backwards and as Bailey attempted to chop her to the neck, he missed and the weapon connected with Shaquan’s neck as she was holding him in one arm at the time.
The woman tearfully recalled seeing blood spilling from her baby’s neck as she screamed for help.
Bailey is likely to know his fate when the trial continues tomorrow morning at 10. Trial Judge Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry will sum-up the case to the jury and hand it over to them for their deliberation and the possible return of a verdict.
Both the defence and prosecution presented closing addresses to the jury yesterday.
The state is being represented by prosecutors Michael Shahoud and Orinthia Schmidt. Mean-while, Bailey is represented by attorney Peter Hugh.
