THE accused Meguel Barker, called “Allan” or “Miguel Anthony” in leading his own defence opted to give an unsworn statement from the prisoner’s dock on Thursday after the state closed its case in the trial.

Barker, who for about 15 minutes told the court that from the time he was arrested in Sophia he was assaulted by the police and he explained how they beat him to sign a statement.

He added that the conduct of the police was unprofessional and did not say much about the incident in which his wife, Donessa Barker, was knifed to death on April 30, 2015 at Lot 21 Inner Circle, Bagotville, West Bank Demerara.

Barker related to the court that he was innocent and never did he hit his wife despite having some problems in their relationship.

He said they had separated for some time and he could not locate her after she moved out of their Albouystown home, when she found out he was unfaithful to her.

Defence attorney Maxwell McKay called two witnesses to testify.

The matter will continue in the Georgetown High Court before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury on Monday.

It is alleged that at about 15:00hrs on April 30, 2015, the accused sneaked into the house in which the deceased Donessa Barker was staying and fatally stabbed her and escaped via an opened bedroom window.

The couple who had been married for about a year had constant domestic spats and the deceased had gone to stay at the home of a friend, Shaniza Clarke, at Lot 21 Inner Bagotville, West Bank Demerara, when she was reportedly killed.

Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh testified, stating that he had performed the post-mortem on the body of the deceased and gave the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage due to a stab wound to the chest.