Black Immigrant Daily News
The 45-year-old bus conductor who pleaded guilty to killing his ex-girlfriend’s seven-year-old niece and dumping her body in the Rio Cobre in St Catherine was given a plea deal that could see him back on the street in 21 years.
Vivian Vernon of Portmore Villa in Gregory Park, St Catherine, who was on Tuesday sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 21 years, also pleaded guilty to attempted arson and was sentenced to two years in prison.
On November 3, 2014, Vernon had an altercation with ex-girlfriend Cassandra Taffe at her house in Gregory Park, during which she stabbed him several times with a pair of scissors.
Later that night, Vernon returned to the house and attempted to set fire to it. He managed to set some curtains ablaze before fleeing.
On November 5, Kalisha Cousin, Taffe’s niece, was seen with him around seven in the morning after she had left home for school. Vernon, who was well known to Kalisha, was seen leading her through a track in the direction of Dyke Road near the Rio Cobre.
Her body was found two days later in the river.
Vernon has had two previous convictions, one for uttering a forged document in 2003 and the other for unlawful wounding in 2005.
The accused had been living with Taffe, on and off, in Portmore Villa. According to reports, the relationship was abusive. It was reported that Vernon had injured Taffe’s eye, and she had planned to end the relationship when she found out that she was pregnant.
It is reported that she stayed in the relationship but decided to end it with Vernon after she lost the baby.
According to reports, after she told him that the relationship was over, he turned up at the house with money. When she refused it, they got into an altercation, and she stabbed him. He returned and attempted to set fire to the house.
After his arrest, Vernon reportedly stated that Taffe asked him for money, but he didn’t bring it to her on the date that he had promised. He said when he eventually brought the money, she told him that the relationship was over.
He said that led to a fight, and she stabbed him several times. He said he went back to the house and saw his clothes strewn all over the yard and put them in a garbage bin, lit it and left, claiming that he wasn’t trying to set the house on fire.
Concerning Kalisha, he said that he saw her with her stepfather, who is also a bus conductor, near the river and found out that he was taking her to her mother who was washing at the river.
He said he was informed that Taffe would have been at the river, so he decided to follow them because he wanted to speak to her.
Vernon said his friend then attacked him with a machete. During the fight, he accidentally knocked Kalisha into the river. He said that the current quickly took her away, and he fled without telling anyone what had happened to the child.
A report said that Vernon showed no remorse for his action and wasn’t grieving the child’s death. He was hoping to get some leniency from the court.
NewsAmericasNow.com
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