A 12-member jury was on Monday morning empaneled at the Demerara High Court before Justice Sandhill Kissoon to hear the retrial of Anthony Morrison, who is accused of murdering his reputed wife, Donna Thomas in 2012.
When the indictment was presented, the accused once again denied that he murdered the woman between May 26 and 27 2012.
The state is being represented by Prosecutors Lisa Cave and Mandell Moore while Attorney-at-Law, Maxwell McKay is defending Morrison.
Thomas’ body was found in a pool of blood with several stab wounds at the Lot 65 Cross and D’Urban Street, Werk-En-Rust, Georgetown home she shared with Morrison on the day in question.
Government Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh had given the cause of Thomas’s death as asphyxiation due to compression to the neck, compounded by blunt force trauma to the head.
According to him, the deceased had 16 incised wounds to one hand, while the other hand had six.
These, he said, were considered to be defensive wounds, which were not fatal but contributed to significant bleeding.
Thomas died as a result of being deprived of oxygen and the heart stopping, Singh had explained.
The post mortem examination on Thomas’ body was conducted on June 1, 2012.
During his trial in December of 2015, the then jury was unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict. It was explained that the jury was split, with two finding Morrison guilty and the remaining 10 finding him not guilty.
Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who presided over that trial had said that Morrison would be remanded to prison to face retrial since the jurors could not all agree on a verdict.
