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The accused in police photos taken after their arrest in September 2o17. From left: Twanecia Ollivierre, Taylor Mofford, and Alana Hudson.
The accused in police photos taken after their arrest in September 2o17. From left: Twanecia Ollivierre, Taylor Mofford, and Alana Hudson.
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One of three teenage women charged with murder pleaded guilty to the charge on Tuesday before reversing her plea to not guilty.

When initially asked to plea before Justice Brian Cottle at the High Court in Kingstown, Taylor Mofford, 18, of Belmont, told the court that she was guilty of the September 2017 murder of Fair Hall resident Simonia Da Silva, 23.

Mofford’s co-accused Twanecia Ollivierre, 19, and Alana Hudson, 19, pleaded not guilty.

However, Mofford’s lawyer, Ronnie Marks asked the court that the charge be put to his client again, saying that she had entered the plea in error as a result of a misunderstanding.

The women are charged that between Sept. 2 and 5, 2017, at Fair Hall, they murdered Da Silva.

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Da Silva was pronounced dead on arrival at Milton Cato Memorial Hospital during the early hours of Sept. 4.

Her Fair Hall family said they watched helplessly, having been held at bay by a volley of bottles, as a mob held the woman and inflicted upon her numerous stabs in their front yard between 12 midnight and 1 a.m.

The trio were committed to stand trial after a paper committal at the Serious Offences Court, presided over by chief magistrate Rechanne Browne last August.

After the chief magistrate committed the women to stand trial, their lawyers, Ronald “Ronnie” Marks, Grant Connell, and Michael Wyllie said that they would reserve their defence.

However, Marks told the court that the witness statements, having been edited during the paper committal to remove hearsay evidence as is the norm, the prosecution should seriously take a look at the deposition.

The lawyer said that it is his view that the evidence for common intent is extremely tenuous.

At Tuesday’s hearing, Justice Cottle said that the women’s trial will take place sometime before the close of the assizes in July.

One reply on “Accused teen murderer changes plea after pleading guilty”

  1. I understand that its,a lawyer’ duty to defend his or her client. However, Grant Connel behaves in courts as if he is the law unto himself. Words like his is a virgin to the law is a poor excuse for mitigation when it refers to the most heinous crimes committed by his clients. However, he was not so forgiving when an individual was caught stealing his oranges. As the old adage in vincy parlance,” Do so is not like so”., whatever that means.

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