Appeal Court upholds man’s death sentence

A Tobago man who was sentenced to hang for killing the mother of his two children, by chopping her 22 times when he “tripped off” after he saw her with another man, has lost his appeal.

Uriah Woods was convicted and sentenced to hang on July 9, 2015, for the murder of Sandra Miller on the night of July 14, 2005, five months after their relationship ended.

Woods went to Miller’s apartment, which she shared with her fiancé Lawrence Stewart and her three children, Ryan, Jerevon and Darion.

Ryan and Darion are Woods’ children. During the attack, Woods chopped Miller 22 times and severed part of Darion’s left foot. Darion was six years old at the time.

Hours before the deadly attack, Woods warned Stewart to leave his girlfriend alone and pelted him with two bottles.

Two days after the attack, police found Woods in a house at Northside Road, but he managed to escape even after they fired shots at him. Eleven days later, police again found him at an abandoned house with infected gunshot wounds to his left arm, left calf and right arm. He was taken to hospital.

At his trial, Woods said he left his home at Parrot Hill that night and went to Leeward Croft to visit Miller and his children.

He said he heard his son Ryan shout, “Look, Daddy coming, Mad Dog,” and when he looked inside he saw a man lying on the bed in boxer shorts while Miller was next to him in a vest and underwear.

On seeing that, he testified, he “trip just so” and did not know what happened after that. He did not remember fighting with Stewart or chopping off his six-year-old son’s foot.