Women charged for allegedly killing their significant other

May 09, 2022 Court Stories, Features / Columnists

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Kaieteur News
By Renay Sambach
While I had promised to highlight matters in which women were charged for assaulting their partners, during my research, I found far more matters in which women were charged for allegedly killing their spouse and so I have resorted to highlighting these instead today.
It should be noted that in some of these matters, the women alleged that it was in self-defence that they ended up killing their significant other.

Eva Pearson
In April 2021, a woman, who allegedly knifed her ex-boyfriend to death, was remanded to the New Amsterdam Prison. The defendant, Eva Pearson, 27, had appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate, Alisha George.
It is alleged that on April 1, 2021, she stabbed her ex-boyfriend, Darren Harris, 46, to death at School Street, Cummings Park, ‘E’ Field, Sophia, Greater Georgetown. Pearson was not required to plea to the indictable charge.
According to reports, Pearson stabbed Harris around 21:30 hours during a scuffle. The woman admitted to police that she’d killed her ex-boyfriend in self-defence.
On the day in question, Harris had reportedly approached the woman while she was heading home from work and the two had started arguing on the road. The argument intensified and they ended up in a scuffle. Pearson stated that it was during the scuffle that Harris allegedly chopped her to her hands with a knife.
She alleged that she somehow managed to take away the weapon from Harris and stabbed him with it, before getting rid of the weapon and running away.
Pearson was reportedly chased to her home by a “bunch of people” who presumably wanted to apprehend her for the stabbing. Her father, Ivan Nedd had recalled seeing her jump over the fence and running inside his home. He reportedly secured his premises, as the angry mob pelted bottles into his yard and vandalised his canter truck.
The police arrived shortly after and arrested Pearson, who was bleeding from a chop wound to her right hand. They had taken her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where she was treated before being taken to the East La Penitence Police Station lock-ups.
Moreover, the woman had filed an official complaint against a policeman who she said had wanted to touch her breasts instead of taking a domestic violence report just five days prior to the stabbing.
She alleged that on Saturday, March 27, last, Harris had broken a bottle and threatened to stab both her and Nedd (her father) for putting him out. She later headed down to the Turkeyen Police Station that same day to lodge a report.
Instead of taking her report, a policeman there had asked to touch her breasts to see if they were real. Pearson had reportedly become annoyed and left without making that report.

Sandra Brescenio
In April 2020, a pregnant Sandra Brescenio appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts for the death of her reputed husband.
Brescenio, now a mother of five, had appeared before Magistrate Dylon Best.
She was not required to enter a plea to the indictable offence, which alleges that on April 12, 2020, at Canabali, Barima/Waini River, North West District, Brescenio stabbed and killed her reputed husband, Clarence Williams.
Kaieteur News had reported that on the day in question, the couple was involved in an argument that later turned bloody.
It was said that the victim, 35-year-old Williams, a miner, was stabbed to death, reportedly by his reputed wife, whom police said choked and threatened to push her head into a fire. It was reported that Williams was under the influence of alcohol when he made the threats.
Prior to the stabbing, it was reported that the victim had dragged his pregnant wife out of church to prepare a meal for him.
It was while preparing his meal that things turned sour. According to a police report, the suspect was cleaning fish with a knife and Williams reportedly threatened to push her head into a fire.
An argument ensued between the two and Williams allegedly choked the woman.
Reports are that the woman became “annoyed” that she was being choked and used the knife to stab Williams twice in the region of his groin. He was later found motionless in his bed.

Melissa Playter
There was also the case of Melissa Playter, a mother of three, who made her first court appearance in December of 2018. According to reports, the tragic incident, in which she was involved, was the culmination of years of abuse and fear in a relationship, which she had with Victor Roberts, the 38-year-old father of her youngest child.
Playter was not required to plea to the indictable offence, which stated that on December 2, 2018, at 41 Prince William Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, she murdered Roberts, who was her reputed husband.
According to information, on the day in question, Playter and Roberts had an argument at their residence when she became annoyed and stabbed Roberts once to the region of the heart with a knife.
Roberts fell to the ground and was rushed to the GPHC where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
While the women in the three preceding matters claimed self-defence, the following matters saw killings committed under much different circumstances.

Beverly Persaud
A mixed 12-member jury was empanelled earlier this year before Justice Navindra Singh for the trial of Beverly Persaud and the man she allegedly hired to kill her husband, Nathan Persaud, on September 10, 2015.
Beverly Persaud, formerly of Lot 56 Diamond New Scheme, East Bank Demerara and Oswald Junior Yaw, also known as Leow, of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown are accused of killing Nathan Persaud, a block maker.
The killing allegedly stemmed from an agreement between Beverly Persaud and Yaw. Beverly reportedly promised Yaw money as an inducement for killing her husband.
The two were committed to stand trial at the Georgetown High Court in 2017. Back then, City Magistrate Judy Latchman had noted that through the caution statements and oral statement, the two murder accused implicated themselves in the commission of the crime.
According to reports, Nathan Persaud was found lying face down in the living room of his Lot 66 Herstelling, East Bank Demerara home. His body bore a stab wound to his chest and the back of his head was bashed in.
Police recovered a hammer, two knives and a piece of rock, all of which had bloodstains from the crime scene.
Beverly Persaud was arrested and interrogated by police hours after her husband was killed. She reportedly confessed to orchestrating the plot to end the life of her estranged spouse and allegedly hired Yaw and promised him $1.7M.
After the father of four was killed, a strange man, now believed to be Yaw, was reportedly seen leaving his yard.

Alexis Turpin
Last month, after spending six years on remand, Alexis Turpin was acquitted for the second time for the murder of her reputed husband, Sherwin Johnson.
According to reports, Turpin shared a child with the man who she’d lived with at Chapel Street, Lodge, Georgetown.
According to reports, on July 2, 2016, when Johnson arrived home, he found his wife in bed with another man, 39-year-old Sterfon Barlow. An argument ensued and it escalated into a fight, during which Turpin and Barlow reportedly dealt Johnson several stabs about his body with a knife and also reportedly lashed him with pieces of wood and a crowbar.
Following the incident, Johnson was hospitalised for several weeks at the GPHC before he succumbed to his injuries. The charge against Turpin and Barlow, as a result, was upgraded to murder.
In 2021, Turpin had her first trial. She was charged jointly with Barlow for the murder of her husband. However, after deliberation, the jury was unable to arrive at a verdict and as such, Turpin and Barlow were remanded pending another trial.
In March 2021, Barlow pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter when he appeared before Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara High Court. He was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for the crime. According to reports, Barlow told a probation officer, that Turpin would invite him to her home at nights. He revealed that one day, he visited her during the daytime, but her reputed husband Johnson was at home.
According to Barlow, an argument broke out between Turpin and Johnson during which he, Johnson, hit her. Barlow told the probation officer that as a result of Johnson hitting Turpin, he hollered at him. He said that the now dead man ran out of the house, tripped, and hit his head on the concrete stairway. He said that when Johnson got up, he armed himself with pieces of wood and attacked him, which resulted in a fight between them. The probation officer said that residents in Barlow’s neighbourhood described him as being very helpful and caring and were shocked at his involvement in this crime.
Added to this, prison officials described him as a very quiet inmate who attended anger management classes. While Barlow is serving his sentence for the death of Johnson, Turpin had a retrial before Justice Jo Ann Barlow and a jury in the Demerara High Court.
She was acquitted of the charge after Justice Barlow upheld a no-case submission made on her behalf by her Attorney-at-Law, Damien DaSilva.

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