Senior Reporter
A man has been acquitted of strangling a woman with whom he had been previously intimate.
Stefan O’Brien was found not guilty by a nine-member jury before High Court Judge Sherene Murray-Bailey at the end of his trial at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain last Wednesday.
O’Brien was accused of causing grievous bodily harm to Zakiya Penn in an alleged incident at his home on July 13, 2019.
Prosecutors claimed that O’Brien and Penn knew each other and met at Ariapita Avenue in Woodbrook hours before the alleged attack.
Penn reportedly accompanied him to a bar and asked if he could drop her home after they limed.
When they entered O’Brien’s car, Penn claimed that he attempted to kiss her, but she resisted as she had a boyfriend.
She claimed that although she was uncomfortable with the kiss, she still agreed to be dropped off by O’Brien, as she did not have alternative transport.
Penn claimed that he repeatedly dozed off while en route and suggested that they go to his apartment in Aranguez to sleep before finishing the journey.
She claimed that she sat on his couch eating a hot dog while he went into the bedroom. She said he returned to the living room in his underwear, sat next to her and rubbed her thigh. She claimed that he attempted to lift her top and take a photograph with his phone but she resisted.
Penn claimed that O’Brien repeatedly demanded that she join him in the bedroom. She claimed that she eventually relented and decided to lie down on the edge of the bed. She said O’Brien attempted to cuddle her and placed a pillow over her head after she resisted.
She claimed that he attempted to suffocate her for approximately 15 to 20 minutes before she managed to slide herself from under him.
She said that he then dragged her to the living room where he attempted to strangle her with his hands.
She claimed that he eventually stopped, got off her and told her to leave.
She said she then walked to a friend’s apartment, where she contacted her boyfriend, who collected her.
She and her boyfriend reportedly went back to O’Brien’s house to see if he was home before going to the St James Medical Facility.
Prosecutors presented a medical report from a doctor at the facility, who observed that Penn had subconjunctival haemorrhaging in her eyes and redness and bruising around her neck. They claimed that the doctor’s observations were consistent with the attack claimed by Penn.
In defence of the case, O’Brien, through his lawyers Ayanna Norville-Modeste and Janeil Chuck, of the Public Defenders’ Department (PDD), claimed that Penn fabricated the allegations against him.
While cross-examining Penn, they suggested that she performed oral sex on him during a previous meeting and she became angry after he refused to engage in further sexual activity and stopped contacting her. They claimed that Penn framed O’Brien, as she was angry over being rejected by him.
Penn denied that O’Brien had rejected her previously and claimed that they had sex.
O’Brien’s lawyers raised numerous inconsistencies between Penn’s witness statement and her testimony in court.
They claimed that the medical report was inconsistent with the extent of the alleged attack and Penn’s claims over her injuries, including bleeding from her nose and ears.
They also claimed that a video recording of Penn, purportedly taken by her boyfriend after he met her, which was used in evidence, should not be relied on as it did not contain a time stamp.
They also questioned why it was not initially disclosed to the police officer tasked with investigating her report. They also took issue with the quality of the investigation undertaken by the officer, as they questioned his failure to secure fingerprint, CCTV or DNA evidence.
O’Brien’s lawyers also referenced a post she made on Twitter months after the alleged attack. Penn admitted that she made the post but denied that she intended to smear O’Brien’s name.
The case was prosecuted by Chanelle Moe and Roger Hinds.
