Court: DPP Questions Defendant In Murder Case
The Supreme Court trial of Kiahna Trott-Edwards, who is accused of murdering 16-year-old Berkeley Institute student Shijuan Mungal, continued with the defendant being cross examined by Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Fields.
Mr Mungal died in September 2014 after sustaining head injuries, and Ms Trott-Edwards was charged with murder on September 12, 2014.
The jury previously heard from the bus driver operating the bus where the incident started, Mr Mungal’s friend who was with him when the altercation took place, as well as from the defendant herself.
Remaining on the stand and under cross examination by Director of Public Prosecutions Rory Fields, Ms Trott-Edwards told the court that she did not intend to hit Mr Mungal in his head, saying that she panicked as he walked towards her as if he were going to attack her.
She had previously told the jury that the victim ducked the second time she swung the bat causing the bat to strike his head and not his arm, as she had intended.
Mr. Field suggested that she might have made up this detail to support her self-defense stance, however Ms Trott-Edwards denied the suggestion, telling the jury that her account of the events has not changed since her initial police statement given in September 2014.
After being asked by the Director of Public Prosecutions why, if she felt threatened by Mr. Mungal, she not call the police, shout for help or go back inside; Ms Trott-Edward told the jury that the situation unfolded very quickly and that her initial reaction was to grab the bat.
Ms Trott Edwards then told the jury that the day after the incident she saw an online news report about a 16-year-old male in the Intensive Care Unit of KEMH after a reported altercation on Ord Road, however she did not initially realise it was Mr Mungal until the police contacted her.
The defendant suggested that one of the young males who testified had mislead the jury about what she said to the victim, and also suggested that the witnesses were threatened by the police and the prosecution into giving evidence in exchange for the clearing of their police records.
Mr. Field asked Ms Trott Edwards if there was this ‘grand conspiracy’ against her, why did she not instruct her lawyer to put these accusations to the witnesses.
After the defendant’s testimony, the defense called character witnesses to testify on behalf of Ms Trott-Edwards, including Michael Weeks, the Member of Parliament for Constituency #16 Pembroke East Central.
Mr. Weeks told the jury he has known the defendant her whole life, and testified that she is a kind person who is very attentive to her children.
He also said that when he heard the accusations against her, he was in shock and believed that the altercation must have been a last resort.
Ms Trott-Edwards, 32, has denied the charge of murder, and the trial continues.
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