Daughter of murdered Festival City beautician testifies…As trial continues

Jun 11, 2015 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

The 17- year old daughter of murdered beautician, Latoya Conway Woolford concluded her testimony yesterday maintaining that she was present at the time that her stepfather stabbed her mother.

Murder accused: Charles Anthony Woolford

Charles Anthony Woolford is indicted for fatally stabbing his wife on February 8, 2009.
The incident took place at the couple’s Lot 2041, Hummingbird Street, Festival City, North Ruimveldt home, allegedly during a heated argument.
The hairdresser, and mother of three, is said to have had her stomach sliced open during the ordeal. She succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) while receiving treatment.
The accused, who was a self-employed construction worker at the time, tried to end his life by ingesting what was believed to be a poisonous liquid, a few hours after learning of his wife’s demise. He was hospitalized but was later released to face the murder charge.
Woolford is facing his second retrial in the matter. The previous two trials ended in hung jury verdicts. The accused stands indicted before Justice Brassington Reynolds and a 12-member mixed jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
He is being represented by Attorney–at–Law, Peter Hugh. Prosecutors Mercedes Thompson and Michael Shahoud are presenting the State’s case.
Yesterday, the victim’s daughter Marciana Conway was further questioned by the Defence Attorney, Peter Hugh, with regard to the incident. During cross -examination, the witness was asked to provide an explanation for inconsistencies in the evidence she provided to the court.
Hugh, in particular pointed out that in the previous trial, Conway related that on the day of the stabbing, she had showed police investigators around the home but in this trial, she said that she could not remember showing the police around the house.
Asked to give an explanation for this, the witness simply told the court that she just couldn’t remember at the time.
The teenager also disagreed with suggestions by the Attorney, that her mother had a friend named “Andy,” who would visit the home, in the absence of her stepfather.
It was also suggested to the witness, that she along with her aunt and cousin, (Talia) had discussed the matter before she gave statements to the police.
Conway disagreed with the suggestion but, recalled that she was present when the incident took place. She told the court her younger siblings were also there.
Conway, who currently resides in Queens, New York, commenced her evidence, via audio-visual link (Skype) last Monday.
She related to the court that on February 8, 2009 her stepfather, Charles Anthony Woolford, plunged a knife into her mother’s stomach.
The teenager was just 11- years -old when she witnessed the stabbing. In her evidence, she recalled that on the day of the incident, her mother was in the bedroom when her stepdad entered, turned her mother around and stabbed her with a shiny brown handle knife.
Conway related that her mother began to scream and stumbled across the room in the direction of a window. The trial will continue today.