Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A 67-year-old woman from Diego Martin has been acquitted of stabbing a 17-year-old schoolgirl in her eye with a pencil after intervening in a fight between the alleged victim and her daughter almost 15 years ago.
It took a nine-member jury before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain less than half an hour to return with a unanimous not guilty verdict for Mary Farrell.
Farrell was accused of causing grievous bodily harm to Mayleen Sharpe during an incident at the Diego Martin North Secondary School in October 2011.
Sharpe was reportedly involved in a scuffle with Farrell’s then 15-year-old daughter when Farrell got involved.
The mother of four, who was also injured in the altercation, spent several days on remand before she was granted bail pending a trial.
During her brief trial, Farrell, through her lawyers Larry Williams and Toni Roberts, admitted that she intervened to protect her daughter but repeatedly denied Sharpe’s claim that she (Farrell) stabbed her (Sharpe) with a pencil.
In a brief interview after receiving the verdict, Farrell thanked God for the outcome and her family for standing by her while she was facing the charge.
“I feel very good and wonderful because my God never failed me yet. Whatever I ask him for, he always granted unto me,” Farrell said.
Farrell said that she, her husband and her daughter were confident of the outcome because they were present during the incident and knew that she did not stab Sharpe.
“I wouldn’t have stick her in her eyes because sticking her in her eyes is blinding her. I would not want that for my children or for anyone,” Farrell said.
“At one time, she (Sharpe) said she did not see me because I knew I didn’t do it. But when we came to this court, she said she was 100 per cent sure she saw me stick her in her eye,” she added.
Farrell claimed that her presence at the school on the day of the incident was not planned.
She claimed that she and her husband were on their way to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope and decided to stop by the school to pick up their daughter instead of leaving her to travel home.
Despite her experience in the criminal justice system and facing the prospect of being convicted of a crime she maintained she never did, Farrell said that she did not regret stepping in to protect her daughter.
“I would stop again because that is my child. I would not stab anyone in the eye or any part of their body, but I will stop again even if that happens again at my age,” Farrell said.
