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Jul 03, 2014 News
– Relatives recall woman’s body
Close relatives of murdered Sophia woman, Shoala Gilgeous, were among the first set of witnesses to testify, as the murder trial of Paul Anthony Lo Hing got underway at the High Court, yesterday.
Lo Hing stands accused of the murder, which took place on August 6, 2012. Gilgeous was reportedly strangled by Lo Hing her boyfriend at the time, during a heated argument at their Block ‘E’ South Sophia residence.
Reports suggested that the accused had shared a turbulent one-year relationship with the victim. The accused is being represented by Attorney- at- Law, Huckumchand Parag.
Yesterday, State Prosecutor Natasha Backer called Monica Charles to the stand. Charles was a neighbour of the victim and the accused.
She recalled hearing the couple arguing but that she didn’t find it strange as the couple would usually row.
The witness said that she went out and when she returned, there were no sounds coming from the apartment, so she assumed that the quarrel had ended.
Relatives had discovered the woman’s lifeless body at the Block ‘E’, South Sophia home around 17:30 hrs on Sunday. They had reportedly received a telephone call from the boyfriend, who asked them to check on the woman.
The victim’s teenage niece also took the stand yesterday. The teenager recalled that she was the first person to make the discovery.
She said that she went over to her aunt’s apartment on August 6, 2012 and knocked on the door, but got no response. She said that the door was open and she entered the apartment where she found her aunt lying on floor, motionless.
The girl recalled that her aunt had a boyfriend named “Paul,” at the time before identifying him as the accused sitting in the prisoner’s dock.
“She looked as though she was sleeping. I touched her on her shoulder but she wasn’t responding. I called my mother and
my father came too. He touched her but she didn’t respond.”
The girl’s mother, Alana Gilgeous, recalled the day, she received telephone calls from the accused, who asked her “to go check Shoala.”
She inquired of the accused what had happened between him and her sister but he said that he wasn’t sure. However, the man called repeatedly to tell her, she should check on her sister.
“He say they had a problem and she told him to move out.”
She said that she later went to her sister’s home where she found her motionless on the floor of the apartment.
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