Murder Trial Continues In The Supreme Court
The trial of Kiahna Trott-Edwards — who is charged with the murder of 16-year-old Shijuan Mungal — continued in the Supreme Court, with the jury hearing from Mr Mungal’s friend who was with him when the altercation allegedly took place.
Mr Mungal died in September 2014 after sustaining head injuries, and Ms Trott-Edwards was charged with murder on September 12, 2014. The jury has previously heard that Ms Trott-Edwards allegedly struck Mr Mungal with a wooden bat, resulting in fatal injuries.
A 17-year-old witness took to the stand yesterday, with the Court hearing he was Mr Mungal’s close friend and godbrother, and was with him on September 8th 2014, when the pair caught the bus to pick up money from the witness’ father.
The witness told the Court he and Mr Mungal took the bus from Hamilton to Ord Road to pick up cash from his father, which he was receiving for his birthday. He told the Court he and Mr Mungal sat near the back of the bus along with some other young people.
The teenage witness said the defendant was sitting a couple of rows ahead of them with her child and turned around and asked Mr Mungal to stop using profanity in what he described as a bossy manner. According to the witness, Mr Mungal had been using profanity as one of the other young people had apparently said something about his father.
The witness told the Court that Mr Mungal replied that he was not going to stop cursing because he was not the only one doing so. The Court then heard that the defendant and her child then got off the bus, and the witness and Mr Mungal got off at the following stop. He then said he asked Mr Mungal to wait outside his father’s apartment while he collected his money.
The witness then said he and Mr Mungal were walking back to the bus stop after collecting the birthday money from his father when they saw Ms Trott-Edwards, who he said told Mr Mungal to get out of her yard, with the defendant allegedly saying “this boy don’t know me.”
The jury heard that Ms Trott-Edwards, who had been on the phone, approached Mr Mungal with a wooden bat in her hand.
The witness then said that Ms Trott-Edwards first hit Mr Mungal with the wooden bat on his upper body, and then hit him on his head. He told the jury he heard a cracking sound when the blow struck his friend’s head, and Mr Mungal then fell onto the ground.
He says he then helped his friend up, and on the way toward the bus stop, Mr Mungal stumbled, and later on began bleeding from his ear.
He was then cross examined by defense lawyer Courtenay Griffith QC, who suggested that when they entered the yard Ms Trott-Edwards said to Mr Mungal that he has “some nerve coming into my yard after disrespecting me on the bus,” however the witness said he did not recall hearing that exchange.
Mr. Griffith also suggested that Mr Mungal continued cursing towards the defendant, which the witness said he could not remember, and the defense lawyer also questioned the witness as to why he never put a stop to the alleged attack.
In wrapping up his cross examination, Mr. Griffith suggested that the witness was not entirely forthcoming about what happened because Mr Mungal was his friend, which the witness denied.
The 32-year-old defendant has denied the charge of murder, and the trial continues.
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