It was a situation where villagers killed a villager, said state attorney Angelica Teelucksingh yesterday, as she opened the prosecution's case against a father and two sons charged with murder. Emmanuel Vincent and his two sons Sterling and Sylvestor Brian Vincent, of Lengua Village, Princes Town, are before Justice Geoffrey Henderson charged with the 2005 murder of Clifton Allen, 46. Allen, also of Lengua Village, was stabbed to death.
In giving a brief overview of the State's case to the jury in the San Fernando Second Assizes, Teelucksingh said Allen's adopted brother Steve Rodriguez would be the State's main witness. Rodriguez, she said, on February 1 went to the home of the accused brothers' cousin to speak to Sterling about beating Allen. She said, however, Sterling picked up a knife and was trying to get to Rodriguez and Allen, but was restrained by other people.
Rodriguez then asked Sterling's father to talk to him about beating Allen. Teelucksingh said Emmanuel walked away but returned sometime later with his other son, Sylvestor. They were both armed, she said. They allegedly picked up stones and started pelting Rodriguez. Other villagers joined in and there was a "whole set of stone pelting," Teelucksingh said.
Sterling, she said, began running after Allen and Rodriguez. He eventually caught up with Allen and dealt him a stab to the back with a knife. Shortly afterwards, she said, Sterling was joined by his father and brother and they all began stabbing Allen as he lay on the ground. During the fracas, she said, Sylvestor was stabbed in the back and Sterling was hit in the face with a piece of wood. The trial continues today.
