A mother of three from Siboulie Massacre, Christine Alphonse was on January 30, 2019 found guilty by a nine member jury (3 men and 6 women) on a majority 7-2 verdict of the charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The trial lasted three days and was presided over by Justice Victoria Charles-Clarke. State attorney in the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Ann Riviere represented the State in this matter while the accused was represented by Wayne Norde and Gina Abraham.
The incident took place on August 14, 2014 in Massacre were it was alleged that Alphonse threw alkali on Florence St. Jean her niece.
St. Jean in her testimony told the court that she was at the home of Alphonse to deal with some family dispute when a fight ensured resulting in the accused who had the bottle of alkali on the table opened it and threw it at her.
She was transported to the Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH) and was seen by Dr. Hazel Shillingford Ricketts after complaining of irritating in her eye. She spent four days at the PMH warded on Dubiney ward.
In her testimony to the court, Dr. Shillingford-Rickets said upon examination, her vision in her right eye was 10/70 and left eye 10/50, her eye balls were red. She was also given artificial tears and glasses were later prescribed for her.
In her testimony from the witness stand, Alphonse told the court that she was at work when she received a phone call from a neighbor about a fight at her home. Moments later she received a call from her niece Florence St. Jean saying “I should come home something had happened.”
“I got a ride home…no one was present and then called Florence and told her I was home, she arrived shortly after with other family members and from there things started to unfold, my son was given two slaps,” she said.
According to her she told her niece that she thought that she had come to “talk about the incident.” “But then a fight started in my house I was helpless and they were on top my son Kevom beating him, I remembered that I had a bottle of alkali on the table and opened it and threw it in the air and took my son and ran away, I then called the Mahaut police and told them what happened and I needed help because I was afraid for my life and my son,” she said.
In her address to the jury, State attorney Ann Riviere asked the jury to use their life experiences in the case and that the evidence presented by the state was “consistent” and they should return a “guilty verdict.”
But defense Counsel Wayne Norde it was a case of “self-defense where a mother was defending her son.”
“The prosecution’s case is pregnant with inconsistencies…put yourself in her shoes, you are at your home and someone beating your child in front of you, like a mother hen and a dog she had to defend her child, she then called the police reporting the matter asking for help,” Norde said.
He told them that the case for the defense is that Alphonse acted in “self-defense” and that they should return a verdict of “not guilty” against her.
The Judge has ordered a social inquiry report after the guilty verdict to be delivered to the court no later than February 22, 2019 and the defense and prosecution are to file sentencing submissions by March 1, 2019 with sentencing set for March 8, 2019. In the meantime Norde issued a plea to the court to grant bail to his client until sentencing. He told the court that she was always present at her trial was the mother of three and was gainfully employed, the prosecution did not object to the bail. Justice Charles-Clarke granted bail in the sum of $EC15, 000.00 and she is to report every Mondays and Fridays at 3:15pm to the Roseau police station until her sentencing on March 8, 2019.
This article is copyright © 2019 DOM767
