Three more years in jail

A FORMER stripper, who admitted to paying two men to “lick up” her friend in 2005 so that she could take her baby, will spend a little over three more years in jail.

Kerry Ann Hosang was yesterday sentenced by Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor to three years and 11 months. She was also ordered to continue her treatment with the prison’s psychologist, at regular intervals, as well as take part in the Life Skills programme at the women’s prison in Arouca.

In July, Hosang pleaded guilty to her role in the death of Reena Kissoon between August 30 and September 4, 2005. Kissoon’s throat was slit at her Phase 7, La Horquetta home and her infant baby was taken.

Two days after the killing, Hosang told police she wanted Kissoon’s baby, so she paid the boyfriend of a friend and another man to “lick up Reena” so she could take the baby.

She said Kissoon owed her money and they had a disagreement over the repayment.

Hosang was present when Kissoon was chopped, but said she tried to stop the man she paid to threaten Kissoon, but was beaten on the face, and instead, she left the two men in the house with Kissoon and took the baby.

Alexis-Windsor said she did not consider the death penalty, nor did she consider a maximum sentence of life to be appropriate as there was no evidence Hosang was incapable of rehabilitation.

She started with a 29-year jail term for Hosang, and took off two years for mitigating factors while also applying the one-third discount for the guilty plea and the 14 years and 18 days the prisoner has spent awaiting trial. This left a term of three years and 11 months.

After sentencing her, Alexis-Windsor said to Hosang, “May this time pass quickly and may you be able to be reunited with your family.”

According to the judge, the aggravating factors of the offence that she considered in her sentencing was that it was a home invasion which involved gratuitous violence as evidenced by the multiple injuries on Kissoon’s body. She also said Hosang breached Kissoon’s trust by using their six-year friendship to enter the woman’s home, inviting the men to commit the violent act, and doing what she did so that she could take her friend’s baby.

Alexis-Windsor also said she did not consider Hosang’s sex or her age at the time Kissoon was killed – Hosang was 23 – nor did she consider that she did not “wield the knife” herself or her expression of remorse.

However, she did consider Hosang’s personal circumstances, her diagnosis of being bipolar and the academic qualifications she obtained while in prison suggested good prospects for rehabilitation.

Hosang was represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Asha Watkins-Montserrin while the State was represented by prosecutor Maria Lyons-Edwards.

Hosang, in her statement to police, said after one of the men she paid fired a chop at Kissoon, she took the baby and left $800 on a chair for them.

She also said she gave everyone the impression the baby was hers and had been pregnant three times but suffered miscarriages.

Her last miscarriage was at the end of July, months before the incident which left her friend dead.

Kissoon's baby, Aaliya, was born on August 9, 2005, and was in good health with no injuries when police went to Hosang's grandparents home in Belleview, Maracas St Joseph to question her about Kissoon's murder.