–as trial into 2013 ‘Agricola murder’ winds down

AS the trial of 27-year-old former soldier, Abiola Jacobs for the murder in 2013 of Donna Taylor winds down, UK-based witness Samantha Sabatt is expected to testify today via Skype.

Sabatt was to have testified on Thursday, but due to unforseen circumstances with the arrangement, the matter, which is before Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a 12-member jury in the Georgetown High Court, was adjourned.

Taylor was reportedly found aback her Agricola home on Friday, January 31, 2013 with her throat slit, her hands bound behind her, and a piece of cloth wrapped around her neck.

Police say she was asleep when she was dragged from her bed and taken to the back of the yard where she was killed.

Sabatt, who lives in the United Kingdom and was a house-guest of Taylor’s at the time of the murder, had to jump through an upper floor bedroom window, injuring herself in the process, when the killers came looking for her. She was home at the time to attend her father’s funeral.

Jacobs, of Lot 55 Evan Phillips Park, Agricola, East Bank Demerara, was the girlfriend of the dead woman’s son, Bertram Taylor, Jr. but the young man had reportedly broken off the relationship with her because of her aggressive attitude.

Reports are that the young man was very close with his mother, and it was because of that closeness the accused felt that the woman had influenced her son’s decision to sever the relationship.

The state is being led by Mandel Moore in association with Lisa Cave, while the defence attorney is Adrian Thompson.