The retrial of the two men charged with the 2007 murder of nine-year-old Sade Stoby began yesterday before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow with an emotional testimony from the dead child’s mother Sharon Berry.
Jevon Wharton and his co-accused Charles Cush are alleged to have murdered Stoby on November 2, 2007, leaving her semi-nude body to decompose in a heavily vegetated area in Barnwell North, Mocha Arcadia. Her body was discovered two days after her mother reported her missing.
Almost two years have passed since jurors were unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the case, which was first heard by Justice Navindra Singh. The duo had on remand since then.
An emotional Berry, the first of four witnesses called to testify yesterday, had to take a moment to compose herself after breaking down in tears as she faced her daughter’s alleged killers from the witness box. In light of this, Justice Barlow urged the woman to take things “step by step” in order to give the full extent of her evidence.