Post mortem says woman was manually strangled

Murder victim Onicka Gulliver was manually strangled, Consultant Pathologist Dr Corinthia Dupuis has disclosed.

The doctor, who is attached to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), gave that evidence in the No. 2 Supreme Court as the case against Andrew Harclyde Pollard continued today.

The Crown, represented by Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale is alleging that Pollard of Mahaica Gap, Green Hill, St Michael, who is in his 30s, murdered Gulliver between March 11 and 14, 2014 in Vaucluse, St Thomas.

The accused, who is represented by attorney-at-law Sydney Pinder, has denied the charge and is now on trial before a 12-member jury and Justice Randall Worrell.

Today, giving evidence on the Crown’s behalf Dr Dupuis disclosed that the strangulation was done by hand and was consistent with a broken thyroid bone, which was observed in Gulliver’s case during the autopsy conducted on March 19, 2014.

She said there were no ligature marks about the woman’s body which was clad in a yellow camisole, purple bra, and red panties. The deceased’s mother Jacqueline Gulliver-Gibbs, identified the remains.

The consultant pathologist told the court she observed a depressed wound on the left side of the victim’s nose as well as bruising to the knee. The wounds appeared to be ante-mortem while there were a number of insect bites which were post-mortem

There was also some early stage of decomposition.

“In my opinion death was due to manual strangulation,” said the doctor in her evidence.

On cross-examination by Pollard’s attorney, Dr Dupuis disclosed that her examinations on Gulliver’s body revealed no evidence of a recent pregnancy.

Among the other people giving evidence today was Terrell Hunte, a friend of the deceased and her family.

He told the court that he met Pollard on one occasion before the incident, at the deceased’s residence.

On the night of March 11 he said, he was parked at the bottom of the gap not too far from Gulliver’s Station Hill home when he observed her getting into a white Tiida motorcar. He said the lighting at that time was “fairly clear” as there were a number of streetlights.

“She got into the vehicle with a gentleman and drove past me.”

He said he did not see the car’s registration number at the time.

Hunte stated that when he looked through the open window of the driver’s side of the car, which was down he “clearly” saw Onicka.

“It drove up in the direction of the Waterford area and stopped. I passed it . . . went round the roundabout and came back down but the vehicle was no longer there. Then I left and went home.”

In responding to the defence under cross-examination, Hunte claimed that he was “not aware” he was a suspect in the case although the police asked him to “come, and I visited” [the police station]. On the first occasion he went alone but the second time he was accompanied by an attorney-at-law.

The case continues on Monday, February 17.