| The 32-year-old man accused of stabbing to death the mother of his child was yesterday sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment after he accepted responsibility for the crime.Junior Barton, of 364 Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, killed 24-year-old Lisa French, a mother of two, on September 2, 2004 by stabbing her to death aback of a daycare centre where she was employed.Barton had initially maintained his innocence but ‘threw-in-the-towel’ mid-trial and pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes then instructed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.Barton’s plea came after a caution statement taken from him by police was admitted as evidence.At the conclusion of a voir dire (trial within a trial),New Jersey Devils Gear, Justice Gregory-Barnes ruled that the statement was to form part of the evidence.Barton’s lawyer, Vic Puran, did not request a probation report but urged the court to temper justice with mercy.During the three-week trial,Cheap Boston Bruins Jerseys, State Prosecutor Dionne McCammon led several witnesses, including the victim’s aunt, Eartha Thornhill, a school teacher of 467 Kuru Kuru, Soesdyke/Linden Highway.Thornhill said that she knew Barton for about two years prior to the murder since he had fathered one of French’s children.Thornhill said that Barton shared a common-law union with her niece up to two months before the incident when French took up residence with another aunt.The witness recalled that at about 21:20hrs on the night in question, she was preparing to go to bed when she heard someone screaming.Thornhill said she recognised the screams as French’s and ran outside in the direction of the shouts.According to Thornhill, on arriving at the scene she discovered French lying on her back behind the daycare.The witness said that her niece was gasping for air and bleeding from a wound in the area of her rib cage.Barton’s nephew, Devon Sobers, testified that at around 22:30hrs that night,Jeff Green Jersey, he heard someone knocking on the door and peered outside on switching on the lights.According to Sobers, Barton said he needed some money to borrow and requested his company to get the money.However, along the way,Wholesale Authentic Jerseys, Sobers said that he noticed blood on Barton’s shirt and enquired how he came by it.“I ask him ‘wha happen to you’ and he tell me he had a fight with Lisa and her family.”Sobers said that Barton asked for a change of clothes and left after being given a shirt.“He left and I never saw him back until the next morning at the police station when the police pick me up,” Sobers recounted.The witness noted that the police escorted him back to his house where they found Barton’s discarded shirt in the yard.At the station, Sobers said he told the police what Barton had told him and the accused agreed that it was true.Sobers stated that at the time he was picked up by police, he did not know it was in connection with French’s murder.“They told me my uncle was at the station and they think I should go and see what happen to him.”Sobers admitted that he had initially told police that he knew nothing of the murder until he was advised to speak the truth.According to him, when he got to the station, Barton was crying and behaving in a hysterical manner “like a mad man”.Two days later, police retrieved a bloodstained knife believed to be the murder weapon, which was found by a 12-year-old boy in a nearby yard.Detective Sergeant Phillip Bowman said he had visited the scene where he saw French’s body and that he discovered a pair of blue rubber slippers, a brown cap and a half-slip near the corpse.The detective noted that he saw several wounds to French’s torso and her clothes were bloodied. Based on information, Bowman said he set out to locate Barton but failed to do so.The following day,Cheap NHL Jerseys, the officer said he returned to the scene and on arrival saw Barton running.He related that he pursued the accused and after catching up, told him of the allegations.Bowman said Barton told him that he and French were engaged in a scuffle and she was stabbed.French’s father,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, Edward French, said the couple had visited with him shortly before the incident and left in high spirits.Her aunt, Paula French said when her niece returned she put her children to bed and went back outside to Barton.She stated that she was later alerted by screams and found French bleeding and gasping for air. |
