‘I got no justice!’

LA TOYA Fraser had already lost her five-month-old unborn baby. Yesterday, she lost the case brought on her behalf by the State against the woman accused of assaulting her (Fraser) which led to her miscarriage. Fraser, 25, emerged from the San Fernando High Court with frustration etched on her face. “I feel distraught. I got no justice from this. What I loss I done loss already,” she lamented. Since the incident some three years ago, Fraser has not had any children. She said she still feels pain in her stomach.

The accused, Janelle Sheppard, a mother of two, was found not guilty by a jury of the charge of committing grievous bodily harm with intent against La Toya Fraser. However, the jury returned a guilty verdict on the second count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on La Toya’s cousin, Crystal, for causing a burst lip. Presiding judge Alice Yorke-Soo Hon said she will pass sentence on Sheppard on March 26, pending a probation officer’s report of the accused. Sheppard, remanded into custody until her sentencing, was in tears as she was escorted out of the courtroom by police officers.

Sheppard’s attorney, Mewahalal Chatoor, asked Yorke-Soo Hon to consider a non-custodial sentence for the first- time offender. “It may be desirable for the court to promote cohesion rather than divisiveness in society,” Chatoor posed to the judge in mitigation. The charges arose out of an incident on July 1, 2001, around 6.45 pm when Fraser and Crystal were walking through their neighbourhood at Greenidge Trace in Palo Seco. Sheppard, then 21- years-old, began taunting them verbally, and Crystal, who was holding her one and a half year old son, responded to Sheppard’s derogatory comments.

The accused left the company of a group of men and walked up to Crystal, pointing a finger in her face and saying: “You are a whore.” A fight ensued between the two women, and Fraser testified that she, then five months pregnant, was looking on at the scuffle when Sheppard turned the attack on her. Fraser claimed in court that Sheppard hit her several times, cuffing and plunging a knee into her stomach. Fraser said she fell to her knees as she tried to protect her stomach. But Sheppard denied hitting Fraser knowing that she was pregnant. Sheppard admitted under cross-examination by State attorney Narissa Ramsundar that she hit Crystal causing her lip to burst. Sheppard claimed she was defending herself from La Toya and Crystal. Four days after the incident, La Toya gave birth to a still-born baby in the San Fernando General Hospital.