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Facing trial for the murder of the baby boy, allegedly committed between April 4th and 5th, 2007, when he reputedly cut the child’s neck during an attack on the mother because she had decided to end their relationship, the accused Thomas, called Bailey, was giving his defence at the close of the prosecution’s case yesterday.
Evidence of the prosecution, as led by State counsel Mrs. Teshana Lake, is that the accused was so upset by Bernadette Nero’s decision that he went to her home at Amelia’s Ward and began using filthy language. He later allegedly attacked her with a sharp pointed cutlass which he had concealed in his waist.
Bernadette Nero, who now resides in Barbados, gave evidence in the Guyana case on Wednesday via Skype audio/visual link between Barbados and Guyana, demonstrating how she fell on her back with the child in her arms, while the accused, who was allegedly chopping away at her, also chopped the neck of the child, causing the baby boy to die. Ms Nero said she was hospitalised at the Mackenzie Hospital with wounds on the head and arm, while the child was pronounced dead on arrival at that institution.
On resumption of the trial on Thursday, prosecution witnesses Dawn Henry and Alfred Nathaniel Carrington were recalled for further cross-examination.
In answer to Attorney-at-Law Mr. George Ross, Henry admitted, “I never saw the accused with a 2½ foot cutlass.
In answer to other questions from the jury, Henry said, “I did not see any object in the accused hands.” Questioned by the judge whether she was able to see the accused man’s hands, she replied, “I did see his hands.”
The witness Carrington, who had said that the incident happened in the night, admitted that he did not sleep with his spectacles.
But he admitted under re-examination by the prosecution that he uses his spectacles to read, and can see perfectly over a distance of 100 yards.
In answer to defence counsel, Carrington said Ms Nero had brought a pot of hot water to throw on the accused, and he had to hit it away from her hands.
Asked if he were to be shown a 2½ foot cutlass whether he would be able to recognise same, Carrington replied affirmatively, and added, “I did not see the accused with any weapon, nor did I see him with a cutlass. I do not know whether he had one concealed.”
Witness agreed that while he had told the magistrate in the lower court that he had seen the accused on top of Bernadette, he had told the judge and jury that he had seen the accused over Bernadette.
Witness explained that he meant the same thing, and bent over to demonstrate what he meant by ‘over’ and ‘on top’.
Witness said he did not see any blood on the accused that day; but that, he said, might be due to the fact that the accused was wearing black clothing that day.
After the state had closed its case, the accused opted to give an unsworn statement from the dock, wherein he claimed that he was innocent of the charge, and alleged that the mother had bored her own son with a knife.
He told the judge and jury that Bernadette had always given him the impression that the child was his.
He said he had gone to Bernadette in peace on the day in question, to see the child and to speak with the mother, but she refused to see him and began using foul language.
It was she who had been armed with a knife, he said. According to him, the stabbing happened when he took away the child and placed it between his legs.
At that time, the mother was firing jucks at him with the knife, and one of the blows caught the child in the neck, causing her to say, “You see what you caused me to do to the child?”
The hearing continues on Monday, when the prosecution and defence lawyers will address the jury; after which Justice Navindra Singh will sum up the evidence to the jury before handing over the case to them for their consideration and verdict.
