A cousin of Kevin Rankin, who is accused of murdering his two-year-old niece, told the High Court yesterday that she had earlier supplied a different version of what happened on the day of the incident to protect her cousin.
The indictment against Rankin, called ‘Lil Man,’ is that on October 21, 2013, at South Haslington, East Coast Demerara, he murdered Kimani Phillips.
Meanwhile, the cousin, Kiana Primo told the court she had supplied investigators with two versions of the incident because she didn’t want to see her cousin locked up.
Primo, who was 18 years old at the time, related that around 7.30 am on the day of the incident she was in the upper flat of the front house where she lived carrying her out her morning chores when she started smelling an unusual odour.
She checked Kimani and realizing that the child had defecated, she said, she called Rankin to collect Kimani to bathe and change her.
When asked why she had not changed Kimani herself, Primo said the child was not left in her care, and did not live in the front house so she had no clothes there for Kimani.
Primo told the court that about one and half hours later she had finished her work and was heading to the neighbour’s shop to buy food when Rankin called out to her saying that Kimani was not breathing.
She said she immediately turned around and went to the back house where she collected the child from Rankin who told her that after he had cleaning her on the first occasion, Kimani had defecated and he cleaned her a second time. Primo told the court that at time, her cousin was clad only in short pants and had appeared nervous.
She said Kimani was motionless and pale, but both her eyes and mouth were open.
“I walked at the right side of the house and called for my aunty, Joy De Paul… I gave her Kimani to hold to fix my slippers and then told her to call a taxi by the neighbour. When the taxi arrived I entered the taxi with Kimani Phillips and went straight to the Nabaclis Health Centre,” she explained.
Primo related that Kimani was examined by a nurse who checked for a pulse and heartbeat but found none and pronounced the child dead. However, overwhelmed with the news, Primo stated, they decided to take her to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Under cross-examination by Defence Counsel Sandil Kissoon, Primo admitted that since the incident occurred, she has told two different stories.
According to Kissoon, in her first police statement, Primo had told investigators that she had run up the stairs of the house into the bedroom where she found the child on the bed moving her head from side to side.
He also questioned her about for her reason for leaving out the part about Rankin being half naked and nervous, to which she responded that she had not been asked about her cousin’s appearance or demeanour prior to yesterday.
Under re-examination by State Counsel Narissa Leander, Primo admitted that she gave a different version of the story to the police because she didn’t want her cousin to get in trouble and be locked up by the police.
Asked why she had changed what she said at first, Primo told the prosecution that she suffered from a guilty conscience which caused her to come clean.
Primo also attested to the fact that both Kimani and her sister were often left in Rankin’s care prior to that day.
Investigating rank, Detective Constable Curtis Europe was blasted by Kissoon for actions which do not coincide with the police standing orders for dealing with juvenile offenders. According to Kissoon, this included keeping Rankin in custody at the Cove and John Police lockups and not a juvenile holding centre.
Further questioning by Kissoon revealed that no blood work was collected from Rankin or any of the other male relatives who resided at the same address for the purpose of comparison with the samples from Kimani’s sexual assault kit.
Additionally, Europe admitted that Rankin did not undergo any examination to determine if there was bruising on his penis which would indicate sexual activity.
Meanwhile, Venice Phillips, the dead child’s mother in her evidence-in-chief stated that on the morning of her daughter’s death she had left Kimani and her eight-month-old sister Kaylie in her mother’s care and headed to work as she usually did.
Phillips denied claims that Kimani had been suffering from constipation, telling the court that her daughter was healthy up to the morning of October 21, 2013.
She went on to explain that later that morning she was approached by a work mate and escorted to her supervisor’s office, where she was told that her relatives were downstairs waiting on her. Phillips said that she subsequently met her mother Diana Graham, her cousin Kiana and the accused who told her what happened. Upon hearing this, she explained, she made her way to the GPH where she saw her daughter wrapped in a white cloth lying motionless on a bed. The woman said that the next time she saw her daughter was at the funeral home.
Joy De Paul, aunt to both Kimani Phillips and the accused, also testified during yesterday’s proceedings. The woman told the court that on the day the incident occurred, she had seen Rankin collect his niece from the house after Kiana called him to bathe and change Kimani.
Stabroek News had previously reported that based on the report of the post-mortem examination, Phillips had been sexually abused, resulting in her anus becoming dilated. The cause of death was listed as haemorrhaging and shock caused by multiple abdominal injuries.
Relatives had said that the toddler would usually be left at home with her grandmother, Diana Graham, while her mother was at work. However, on the day of her death she was left in the care of Rankin.
The case is being presented by State Counsel Narissa Leander and Tuanna Hardy, before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
The trial continues today at the High Court, where more witnesses are expected to testify.
