Woman convicted of murdering ex
Published:Tuesday | December 20, 2022 | 1:38 AM
A Kingston businesswoman was remanded on Monday for sentencing in the Home Circuit Court on February 20 next year after she was found guilty of the stabbing death of her ex-boyfriend during a domestic dispute in 2019.
Normalyn Dawes, 33, a bar operator of East Street, was found guilty of murder by Justice Leighton Pusey following a judge-alone trial.
Dawes was arrested and charged following the murder of Oshane Coley, who was stabbed in the neck and chest.
Prosecutors led evidence that Dawes, who was involved in an on-and-off relationship with Coley, murdered him at her home following a dispute.
The Crown said that the argument started on March 7 at 4 p.m. and escalated the following day.
Coley was stabbed thrice outside Dawes’ home.
After he was stabbed, Coley ran from the home and collapsed on Union Street. He was taken to Kingston Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
But lead attorney-at-law for the defendant, Paul Gentles, had argued that his client had killed Coley in self-defence and that she was also provoked.
He said that based on his client’s instruction, Coley had broken into her home through the window after his attempts to breach her door failed. Coley reportedly attacked her in a fit of jealousy because of her business dealings with construction workers.
“We were also saying that there was constant physical abuse when the relationship was broken off,” the lawyer told The Gleaner following the verdict.
However, Gentles said the judge rejected the self-defence and provocation arguments based on the evidence presented, including a trail of blood outside the home.
Coley had been on the run after absconding bail on a murder charge in the middle of his trial when he was killed.
Devon Harriott, Michael Jacobs, and Coley were found guilty in the Gun Court in their absence on September 28, 2017, and were to be sentenced on October 20.
The men were found guilty of killing Craig Lewis after shooting him multiple times.
The court heard that the trio were among four gunmen who invaded Lewis’ St Catherine home on the morning of December 9, 2009, and fired nearly 30 rounds, striking him 12 times.
Lewis, before succumbing to his injuries nine days later, had given police investigators a detailed statement identifying his killers.
Attorney-at-law Kemar Setal also represented Dawes.