Accused tells Jury – ‘I am innocent’
THE Defence in the Lennox Syfox murder trial lost the first round of the court battle yesterday when Presiding Judge Miss Roxanne George, who conducted a voir dire to determine a defence submission that there was no case to answer, rejected the application and called for a defence.
Thereafter, accused Lennox Syfox who is facing a two-count indictment for the murder of child mother Roslyn Rodney and the wounding of their eight-month old son, Analisa, began his defence with an unsworn statement from the dock.
He told the judge and jury that he was innocent of the crime and asked them to find that what happened that day was an accident.
According to him, on the night of August 19, 2005, he had gone to his girl’s mother’s home at Golden Grove to see his girl and his baby son when the girl laughed, thereby causing her mother, Pauline Rodney, to become aware that he (accused) was in the building.
Continuing, accused said that he had entered the building by means of the back door and was about to leave when Miss Pauline Rodney barred him and attempted to cut him with a knife.  He grabbed her hand and there was a tussle for the knife when Roslyn joined them and called upon the mother to stop. At this stage he was able to get away.
Defence Counsel Mr. Bernard De Santos, S.C., called the mother of the accused – Miss Carol Cox, as the lone witness for the defence.
Miss Cox said that the girl once lived at her and that they were well behaved people.
Mr. De Santos addressed the jury urging them not to believe the evidence of the witness Pauline Rodney, whose evidence is unworthy of belief, and could not be used to swing the neck of a cat.
He urged them to return a verdict of not guilty.
On the other hand, Prosecutor Miss Latchmie Rahamat said the case was a straightforward one and asked the jury to return a verdict in accordance with the evidence and the oath they had taken.
The judge will sum up the evidence to the jury today or tomorrow.