Following the rocky relationship he shared with his spouse and her subsequent demise by stabbing nearly two years ago, the accused, Miguel Barker, called “Allan”, was finally allowed to give his version of events when he gave an unsworn statement from the witness box at the High Court on Thursday.
The defendant, Miguel Barker will soon know his fate
Barker’s address to the court followed the prosecution resting its case in the murder trial.
Donessa Barker, called Vanessa, was brutally stabbed on the afternoon of April 30, 2015 at the inner Bagotville, West Bank Demerara (WBD) residence where they were staying.
The accused, before a 12-member jury and presiding judge, Justice Narvindra Singh, maintained his innocence on Thursday despite evidence being presented earlier this week that he jumped out of the window just moments after his wife was stabbed. He did, however, tell the court that some time before his wife’s death, she found out that he was cheating on her and moved out of their Albouystown, Georgetown home.
After spending a significant amount of time detailing that he could not find his wife, and the different places where he lived, Barker jumped to the time when he was arrested in early May 2015 at Sophia and claimed that he was physically assaulted and tortured by Police.
He later alleged that the Police would do just about anything to get the information that they needed.
“It is a whole lot of injustice going on right now and the Police don’t care about nobody but themselves. When they arrested me, they didn’t care about my feelings,” the accused killer told the court.
“I am innocent. My mother always tell me a man who hit a woman is a coward,” Barker claimed.
His lawyer, Maxwell McKay, called two witnesses to the stand: the accused’s aunt, Natasha Barker and his sister, Tashanna Barker, a serving member of the military. Tashanna claimed that she saw the injuries on her brother when she went to the La Grange Police Station on May 6, 2015. Under an intense cross-examination by State Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs, the witness denied suggestions that she fabricated her story to support her brother’s case even as she never gave a statement to Police or in the Magistrate’s Court during preliminary proceedings.
Earlier this week, Shanieza Clarke who left the jurisdiction after allegedly witnessing the initial moments after Donessa’s killing said, in her testimony via Skype from Suriname, that “Allan” was seen with a knife on the night prior to his wife’s killing. Clarke, who lived in the home where the couple were staying, also indicated that the murder accused turned to the side and looked at her before he jumped out of the window.
“I walked towards the room and I saw Allan Barker stooping at the window and he turned to the side and looked at me, and I saw Vanessa Barker with blood on her face,” the witness related on Tuesday.
“After he jumped through the window, Vanessa run out of the room and fell on the front landing. She was panting for breath and blood was shooting out from her neck and hand,” Clarke further testified.
Before the woman’s death, the couple had been married for almost two years. Prosecutors Tiffini Lyken and Narissa Leander are assisting with the State’s case. Closing addresses will soon be presented as a verdict looms for the accused.
