DaSilva To Be Sentenced In Manslaughter Case

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BVI Platinum News

(PLTM) - Lennox DaSilva, the man from St. Vincent who killed his wife by slitting her throat in the presence of their children back in 2017, will be sentenced for manslaughter on May 24.

DaSilva, who is represented by Attorney-at-Law Patrick Thompson, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter last year.

On Monday, April 29, both prosecution and defense made their final submissions on the aggravating and mitigating factors.

Principal Crown Counsel Tiffany Scatliffe-Esprit in her address to Justice Ann Marie Smith, described the June 2017 killing of Sherika Nelson as “one of the most unfortunate matters that have been raised in the court.”

She reminded the court of the details of the crime, and the fact that DaSilva and Nelson were married for three years prior to the killing, and had two children together.

According to the Crown Counsel, on June 10, 2017, neighbours of the couple who resided in an apartment at Greenland, heard what sounded like a plate falling, followed by a loud bang and a woman screaming.

One of them, a man, knocked at the couple’s door and subsequently saw DaSilva cleaning an 18-inch machete-type knife. When DaSilva opened the door for him, the man saw Nelson’s body on the floor surrounded by blood.

He later called the police and prevented DaSilva from leaving when he tried.

The neighbour later told police that when he asked DaSilva why he killed his wife, he responded, “she killing me slowly.”

DaSilva claimed that his wife had an affair and had gotten pregnant for another man. He further claimed that she terminated the pregnancy. He claimed that he saw her alleged lover pick her up from her place of work in Pockwood Pond.

The man later told the police that his wife returned home on the day of the incident and told him she was leaving him. During an argument, he said the woman told him that the bandits should have killed him in Jamaica. Several years prior, before they were married, DaSilva visited Nelson in Jamaica and was shot during a robbery at the woman’s house.

The prosecutor told the court that DaSilva, who has lived in the BVI for over 36 years, in his statement to the police said that when he heard that, “a feeling came over him.”

“I pull the knife and cut her throat,” the man reportedly told police.

The court heard that this all happened in the presence of the couple’s two children—a nine-year-old boy and three-year-old girl.

The daughter would later recount the incident in great detail, and both children are receiving counseling.

The Crown Counsel suggested sentence of 8 to 10 years, retroactive from the day DaSilva was first arrested in 2017.

He will return to court on May 26 to be sentenced.

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