Woman to spend 11 more months in prison for fatally stabbing abusive lover

A battered woman who said she had “no right” to kill her abusive lover a decade ago, was on Friday given a starting sentence of seven years in prison.

However, Angela Wright, who is in her mid-50s, will only spend 11 more months in prison, after several factors were taken into consideration, including her guilty plea, the nine months she had already spent on remand, and the delay in the case in which she was accused of murdering James Jackman.

That was the decision handed down by Justice Carlisle Greaves after hearing from several people, including an emotional Wright who told the No. 3 Supreme Court that she had tried repeatedly to escape the abusive relationship.

“I think it is not right to take a life. I am sorry, but this man had scared me and tried to kill me. I had called the police . . . I had moved, I ran . . . . This man followed me and beat me constantly every day. My teeth are knocked out, my temple is scarred, my arms and my legs are chopped. It is very hard . . . . I tried to do it the right way, called the police . . . I did everything I could, Sir,” she said.

The Garden Land, Country Road, St Michael resident had been charged with murdering Jackman on March 23, 2012. However, she pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter and prosecutors accepted her plea on the basis of provocation.

Wright and Jackman, according to Senior Crown Counsel Neville Watson, were in a turbulent relationship that was marked by violence, and persistent drug use and abuse. He said that was the evidence  of several witnesses who gave statements to police.

On the day in question, the two were at Jackman’s residence at Bedford Lane, Roebuck Street, St Michael, when there was a dispute surrounding allegations of infidelity on Wright’s part. After Wright had taken a shower, Jackman threw her clothes into the street and their dispute ended up there, with Jackman beating on Wright.

People who were present parted the two, but while one of the persons were holding Jackman, Wright stabbed him once in the chest area with a small knife.

According to the prosecutor, Jackman ran off but eventually fell. An ambulance was summoned and paramedics tried to resuscitate Jackman but he succumbed to the injury.

During the investigation into Jackman’s death, Wright told police: “I was defending myself. I have nothing to hide. I will talk to a lawyer later.”

“This man was continuously beating me for years. He was beating me tonight in front of a friend and I stab he to defend myself. I didn’t mean to kill he.”

Wright, who admitted to being a drug addict, told the court on Friday that while the state had accepted her guilty manslaughter plea and she had been on bail, life on the streets was no easier.

“I was insulted, called murderer and when I reply they always told me, ‘you feel you bad because you kill a man?’. I am an educated woman. I have never bothered anyone . . . I am not a troublemaker. I did not do this on purpose, Sir. I have remorse for the family . . . .

“Sir, you don’t know what type of man this was. I don’t have a right to take his life but he was trying to take mine, I am sorry. So, please, have some consideration for me because I have been through enough, all this pain and suffering . . . . Please have mercy on me,” the tearful woman said.

Wright’s attorneys Andrew Pilgrim Q.C. and Leslie Cargill-Straker said reading the contents of the file in this case, “you cannot help but feel sad. It is really an unfortunate situation.”

Pilgrim also pointed to the victim impact statement in which a relative of the deceased had given her view on the situation.

The relative, he said, described Wright’s actions as self-defence, stating that she seemed to have been protecting herself from domestic violence meted out to her by Jackman. Pilgrim said that based on the statement, the family member also said they did not grieve Jackman’s loss and was not interested in the case as it pertained to Wright’s sentencing.

A former partner of Jackman also gave a statement and spoke about his abusive and aggressive behaviour.

In adopting the sentencing submissions, Justice Greaves acknowledged that Wright had a turbulent life.

“To kill a man must be one of the most profound experiences any human being could go through. To kill a lover in a physical dispute must be particularly heart-wrenching. I hope you can find some way to bring peace to yourself and to usher through a healthy and productive life,” he said.

“The issue of abuse is now well known. The affliction of violence by one spouse upon another is one of the dangerous and unfortunate events of our time, and when it comes to issue of sentencing, it really presents difficult questions for these courts, particularly when they arise from an allegation of a woman being physically abused by a man.

“This appears to have been a spontaneous act and response,” the judge added as he ordered Wright to spend the remaining sentence of 11 months in prison, starting Friday.