Derek Achong
A 54-year-old landscaper of El Socorro, who admitted to stabbing his estranged girlfriend to death at the holiday villa in Tobago where they both worked, has been freed of murder.
Clint Sylvan escaped the mandatory death penalty after being found not guilty of murder at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Geoffrey Henderson on Monday.
However, Sylvan was not immediately set free as he was still found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter based on provocation.
Sylvan, who has been on remand since being charged with the crime in September 2006, was ordered to return to prison pending his sentencing on May 19.
Sylvan was accused of murdering Janet Davis, a 44-year-old mother of four from Belle Garden, Tobago, on September 8, 2006.
According to the evidence presented during his trial, Davis was cleaning the villa at Mt Irvine with a female co-worker when she received a phone call from Sylvan, who was not scheduled to work that day.
Her co-worker claimed that shortly after Davis ended the call, Sylvan arrived at the villa and confronted her over what she told him over the phone.
After Sylvan punched Davis in her face and she fell to the ground, her co-worker ran away to seek help.
When she returned to the room, she saw Sylvan drawing a knife from the waist of his pants and stabbing Davis several times.
When police arrived on the scene, Sylvan immediately surrendered and handed over the knife he used to stab Davis 14 times.
During his interrogation by homicide detectives, Sylvan admitted to stabbing Davis and apologised for his actions.
“I really loved J. That woman used to always be there for me. We get into an incident that could have been avoided. I sorry,” Sylvan told the police.
During the trial, prosecutors led evidence from Davis’ relatives, who admitted that Sylvan lived in their home and helped purchase appliances for it.
Davis’ daughter testified that Sylvan was forced to move out months before her mother’s murder after he hit her (Davis) during an altercation.
Sylvan, who was represented by attorneys Amerelle Francis and Kyle Fortune, claimed that he was acting in self-defence or was provoked by Davis.
Justice Henderson rejected self-defence based on the extent of the injuries Davis sustained in the attack.
“I am satisfied to the extent that I feel sure, that the prosecution has proved that the deceased did not pose any threat to the accused and accordingly that there was no need for the accused to defend himself from her or that the accused honestly believed that he needed to defend himself from her,” Justice Henderson said.
In upholding Sylvan’s provocation defence, Justice Henderson noted that while he did not have evidence of the content of the conversation between Sylvan and Davis before her death, Sylvan suffered a sudden and temporary loss of his self-control based on it (the conversation).
“The evidence in this case is that the accused came into the room, went straight to the deceased while saying what it is you say on the phone dey and immediately began hitting Janet Davis,” Justice Henderson said.
“I have drawn the inference from the utterance made by the accused, that something was said which suddenly and temporarily made him lose his self-control,” he added.
Justice Henderson also ruled that a reasonable man of the same age and background as Sylvan would have reacted in the same way.
The case was prosecuted by Ambay Ramkellawan.
