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Body in septic tank at C/ville … Nephew and accomplice found guilty of murder
After a lengthy trial and a bit of back and forth, a mixed jury yesterday found Anthony De Paul Hope and his co accused Ralph Tyndall guilty for the murder of 56-year-old Colleen Forrester.
Guilty: Anthony De Paul Hope
The jury took more than four hours to reach a verdict. The panel retired around 17:00 hours and returned to the courtroom at 20:00 hours with the verdict in relation to Hope but they asked for further directions with regards to the number one accused, (Tyndall). Tyndall was subsequently found guilty of murder. The jury returned to the courtroom and announced the verdict in relation to him at 21:00 hours.
Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire has deferred sentencing of the two accused to 13:30 hours on Tuesday. The two were found guilty of beating and strangling Colleen Forrester to death.
Forrester’s body was dumped in a septic tank at her brother’s house at Lot 55 William Street, Campbellville
She was last seen at the residence on December 26, 2007. The woman was reported missing. Neighbours later noticed something was amiss and raised an alarm.
On January 6, 2008, her body was found by police ranks; her ankles were bound and her body wrapped in sheets before it was tossed into the septic tank. Forrester was allegedly strangled and beaten to death with a pestle (mortar stick) by her nephew (Hope) and his friends Tyndall and Kevin O’ Neil.
O’ Neil was however, recently acquitted of the charge after his Attorney successfully presented no case- submission in his favour. The other two men were called upon to lead their defence.
In his defence, Tyndall stuck to his original statement. The accused had recounted the contents of his caution
Guilty: Ralph Tyndall
statement, essentially blaming the murder on Hope. But Hope, who testified under oath, told the court that he had nothing to do with the murder. He instead claimed that on the night his aunt disappeared, she left the home with a gentleman, “Elder Smith.”
During her summing up yesterday, Justice George addressed the jury on matters of facts and law. She asked the jury to give careful instruction on how to review, the testimonies of witnesses in the trial including that which was provided by the victim’s granddaughter Nikita Semple and Elder Winslow Smith, who was called upon by the prosecution, to lead rebuttal evidence.
Smith had told the court that he had nothing to do with Forrester‘s death, he only knew her through her attendance of spiritual church in East La Penitence.
Nikita Semple the prosecution’s star witness was 12 years old at the time, and had returned home with her grandmother. She testified that the three men were in the premises on the night her grandmother disappeared.
Semple related that her grandmother had instructed her to fetch four buckets of water from downstairs, while there she heard screams coming from upstairs. She said that she ran upstairs and tried to gain access to the house, but both the front and back doors were locked.
In their final arguments, Attorneys-at-Law, Madan Kissoon and Melvin Duke, who provided legal representation for the accused, noted that the prosecution provided no eyewitness, no fingerprints, no blood samples and no motive or reason for the two to murder Forrester.
However, Prosecutor Diana Kaulesar who presented the case in association Stacy Goodings, contended that there is no need for an eyewitness or motive in such a trial.
The prosecutor noted that the star witness Semple gave a vivid and detail recollection of what took place the night her grandmother disappeared; she noted that both accused and ONeil were at the house.
The prosecutor also pointed out the evidence of Government Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh who surmised that the victim bore grave injures to the neck after being choked, and struck to the head. This, the prosecutor said, gave a clear view of the gruesome manner in which the woman lost her life at the hands of her own nephew and his high school friends.
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