[UPDATED] I SET HER UP

SOMETIME between August 30 and September 4, 2005, Reena Kissoon’s throat was slit at her Phase 7, La Horquetta home, and her baby taken away.

Almost 14 years later, the woman who admitted to paying two men to “lick up” Kissoon – but not kill her – and taking her baby girl confessed to her role in Kissoon’s murder.

Kerry Ann Hosang yesterday pleaded guilty to felony murder when she appeared before Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor in the Port of Spain Fifth Criminal Court.

Hosang is possibly the first woman to plead guilty to murder under the felony-murder rule, which gives a judge the discretion to waive the mandatory death sentence.

Prosecutors told the judge, the State was prepared to accept a guilty plea by way of felony murder, and the murder charge on the indictment was read out to Hosang. She then formally entered her guilty plea to felony murder.

After she did so, prosecutor Maria Lyons-Edwards read out the facts of the prosecution’s case, which Hosang accepted.

Hosang previously went to trial for Kissoon’s murder, but in 2010, a jury failed to arrive at a unanimous verdict and a retrial was ordered for her.

According to the evidence the State intended to use if the matter went to trial, Cpl Bronte-Tinkew went to Kissoon’s home with her friend Jillian Borneo on September 5, 2005, and saw blood on a wall and the floor inside the house.

Kissoon’s body was found in a room in the back, clothed in a blood-stained T-shirt, and in a decomposed state.

The body was taken to the mortuary of the Port of Spain General Hospital, then to the Forensic Science Centre in St James where pathologist Dr Easlyn McDonald-Burris did an autopsy which said Kissoon died of a chop wound to the neck which went through the trachea and spine.

That same day, Bronte-Tinkew went to Belleview, Maracas, St Joseph, where he met Hosang. She was told of the investigation into Kissoon’s death and asked about baby Aaliya.

Hosang directed the police to the baby, who was on a bed, and the infant was taken to the hospital and found to be in good health, with no injuries.

Borneo identified the baby as that of Kissoon, born on August 9, 2005.

Police interviewed Hosang, who told them she was in a serious relationship with a man and had been pregnant three times, but suffered miscarriages, the last at the end of July that year.

She admitted she had no children and identified the baby’s parents as “Heidi” and “Garth.” She also told police she had told her mother the baby was hers and that “Heidi” had asked her to keep the baby and take her to the hospital.

Hosang told police she did not give the baby back to Heidi, but went to her relatives’ home with the infant after taking her to the Sangre Grande Hospital. She claimed Heidi never called her and it was for that reason she still had the baby.

She also said the man with whom she was in a relationship called and told her he had heard that Heidi and the baby had died. Hosang said she called a friend, who confirmed Heidi was dead, and that on September 4, the news carried the story of Heidi’s death.

She again admitted she never told anyone she had the baby because she wanted them to believe the baby was hers. According to the prosecution, Hosang’s rationale was that her friends and family knew she was pregnant, but did not know she had miscarried.

She ended her statement by saying, “I know for sure I did not kill anybody.”

Two days later, on September 7, Bronte-Tinkew interviewed Hosang again and she said, under caution, “I wanted Reena’s baby so I paid Rea-Ann’s boyfriend and his friend $2,300 to lick up Reena for me and to take the baby.

“I stayed by Reena on Independence night and early Thursday morning Rea-Ann boyfriend and his friend came to Reena’s home. I opened the door for them to come in. Reena was sitting on a chair and Rea-Ann’s boyfriend took out a knife and cut Reena on her neck. Reena fell to the ground and they dragged her body to a room in the back and I took Reena’s baby and we left.

“Three days later I found out that Reena was found dead in her home.”

In a written statement she gave, Hosang said she had known Kissoon for six years and in January of that year, loaned her $5,000. In March, they had a disagreement over the repayment of the money and Hosang stopped visiting her as regularly as before.

She said after asking Kissoon for the money and receiving continuous stories, she decided to ask someone to threaten or even beat her up. Hosang said she met someone in Malick and paid him $2,000 to deal with Kissoon and even took him to Kissoon’s house so he would know where to go, but he never contacted her after that.

At the end of June, she gave another person $1,000 and was told a policeman and someone else would handle it for her, but they stood her up and she continued to ask Kissoon for her money, but got “attitude” instead.

On July 7, she met Rea-Ann’s baby’s father and told him about Kissoon. She met up with him sometime between August 13-14 and told him she wanted him to “slap around, threaten, and even tie up Reena” and he agreed, even suggesting he use plastic ties on Kissoon.

Hosang said she gave him $1,500 and after some days passed and he did not contact her, she saw him and he told her he needed more money.

Hosang told the police she told him she would only be able to give him $800 when he did the job.

On August 23, she visited Kissoon and they discussed her money in exchange for the baby until Kissoon could pay her back.

She again met with Rea-Ann’s boyfriend and they agreed the best time for the job was on Independence weekend. She visited Kissoon on August 29, and again returned to Kissoon’s house on August 31, where she spent the night.

The next morning, before sunrise, Rea-Ann’s boyfriend and another man came to Kissoon’s house and “Rea-Ann’s man,” the statement said, pulled out a knife, like a small chopper, and chopped Kissoon.

Hosang said she told him she did not want Kissoon dead because Kissoon either had to pay her or make proper arrangements concerning the baby.

When Kissoon asked her where her baby was, the man raised the knife to strike Kissoon again and Hosang said she tried to stop him. In doing so, she was cut on her right middle finger.

Hosang said she was beaten on the face by the man she paid to threaten Kissoon, and she left with the baby, leaving the two men at the house.

She also left $800 on a chair for the man.

Hosang said she called her then boyfriend and told him to meet her at the Sangre Grande Hospital, where she took the baby, and he then took her to her parents’ home in Aranguez, where she stayed from September1-4, and the next day she went to her grandparents’ home in St Joseph, where police found her.

The prosecution said she made everyone believe the baby was hers.

Hosang also said she was told after the Independence Day celebrations of Kissoon’s death and became scared and called the La Horquetta Police Station, but the woman who answered the phone did not want to take the report.

Lyons-Edwards said Hosang ended her statement by expressing remorse over Kissoon’s death and told police she never meant for her to die, while admitting she gave everyone the impression the baby was hers.

Hosang’s attorneys Keith Scotland and Asha Watkins-Montserrin asked for a prison bio-social report for her before she is sentenced. Alexis-Windsor agreed.

Hosang will return to court on July 11, at which time her attorneys will present their plea in mitigation and the judge will set a date for sentencing.

Alexis-Windsor has already said she would like to sentence Hosang before the new law term in September, and was even prepared to do so during the court’s long vacation in August, but that would depend on when the bio-social report would be ready.

This story was originally published with the title "Woman pleads guilty to killing friend, stealing her baby" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

A WOMAN who admitted to taking part in the murder of a La Horquetta woman because she wanted her baby has pleaded guilty to felony murder.

Kerry Ann Hosang is possibly the first woman to plead guilty to murder under the felony-murder rule, which gives a judge the discretion to waive the mandatory death sentence.

Hosang pleaded guilty on Wednesday before Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor in the Port of Spain Fifth Criminal Court.

Prosecutors told the judge,the State was prepared to accept a guilty plea by way of felony murder, and after the charge was read out to Hosang that on a day unknown, between August 30 and September 4, 2005, she murdered Reena Kissoon at La Horquetta, she formally entered her guilty plea.

According the facts agreed to by Hosang, she told police she wanted Kissoon’s baby and paid two men to “lick up Reena” for her to take the child.

Kissoon’s throat was slit.

When the police went to Hosang’s grandparents' home in Maracas, St Joseph, she gave them the baby.

Hosang will return to court on July 11, at which time the judge will entertain her plea in mitigation and set a date for sentencing.

She is represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Asha Watkins-Montserrin.

Hosang first went to trial for Kissoon's murder in 2010, but after the jury could not arrive at a unanimous verdict, a retrial was ordered.