A SAN JUAN man accused of choking a woman during an alleged assault at his home in 2019 has been acquitted on charges of grievous bodily harm.
A nine-member jury found Stefan O’Brien not guilty on Wednesday following a trial before Justice Sherene Murray-Bailey at the Port of Spain High Court.
The jury returned not guilty verdicts on two alternative charges that O’Brien caused grievous bodily harm to Zakiya Penn with intent, and unlawfully and maliciously inflicted grievous bodily harm on her. The offences were alleged to have occurred on July 13, 2019, in San Juan.
According to the prosecution’s case, Penn and O’Brien met along Ariapita Avenue during the early hours of the morning before travelling together in his vehicle. Prosecutors alleged that O’Brien later took Penn to his San Juan home, where he made unwanted sexual advances towards her before allegedly choking her on two occasions.
Penn testified that she eventually escaped from the house and sought assistance from a nearby resident before being taken for medical treatment later that morning.
The State relied on evidence from Penn, her then-boyfriend Rakeem Moses, witness Kyle Caesar, and medical evidence from Dr Christiana Ramnarine.
The court heard that Ramnarine observed redness and bruising around Penn’s neck and haemorrhaging in both eyes during an examination conducted later that day. Prosecutors argued that the findings were consistent with prolonged pressure being applied to the neck.
O’Brien denied the allegations. Represented by public defenders Ayanna Norville-Modeste and Janeil Chuck, he maintained that Penn’s account was fabricated and that the events she described never occurred.
The defence challenged the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses and argued that aspects of Penn’s account were inconsistent with the medical evidence.
They also criticised the police investigation, pointing to what they described as shortcomings, including the failure to obtain CCTV footage, fingerprints or DNA evidence, and delays in the investigation.
Norville-Modeste and Chuck further contended that the medical findings did not support the severity of the attack alleged by Penn, and highlighted evidence that she remained medically stable following the incident.
State attorneys Chenelle Moe and Roger Hinds appeared on behalf of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
