Mother and son get time served for killing of female relative in 2007

A 57-year-old woman and her 36-year-old son have been sentenced by a High Court judge on Thursday to time served for the 2007 fatal stabbing of a relative.

This means if the two have no other pending charges, they will be released.

Carlene King Andrews, a mother of nine, and her son, Marcus King, were before Justice Gail Gonzales charged with the murder of Andrews’s niece La Toya King, 24, on November 12, 2007, at Critchlow Hill, Chinapoo Village, Morvant.

Both pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of provocation and were sentenced on Thursday.

It was the State’s case that on November 11, 2007, La Toya and her aunt got into an argument in which King-Andrews accused her niece of encouraging her cousin to run away from home.

The argument continued the next day. King-Andrews then threw a puncheon bottle at her niece before ordering her son to hit her with a stone.

Marcus did so and La Toya was struck in the head. She called the police and was taken for medical attention.

Later that day, a relative heard Marcus cursing while running down some steps, with a knife in his hand, followed by his mother who had an icepick in her hand. The relative heard Marcus saying, “We go kill she, we geh she, we geh she.”

La Toya, who was standing in the middle of the road in front of her house, was repeatedly stabbed by the mother and son.

She fell to the ground saying, “Mammy, mammy ah love yuh but ah sorry.”

She tried to walk to the police station but collapsed and was taken to the hospital where she was announced dead on arrival. An autopsy said she was stabbed six times in the head and once in the chest.

A victim impact statement from La Toya’s mother, Ingrid Woods, said she was not the same person she was 15 years ago. Woods said every day she cries and begs God to bring back her daughter.

“Her death could have been avoided. I was her mother. She was my child. I does ask God to help me. I always crying,” she said.

Gonzales said the killing could have been avoided.

She said King-Andrews was a mother who should have counselled her son against such conduct.

“Instead, she egged him on,” she said.

Gonzales found the woman was remorseful and admitted her guilt from “day one.”

On Marcus, she said he was young at the time - 19 years old- and was still in need of direction and counselling from a mother who was incapable of giving that.

Both mother and son received deductions for their expressions of remorse, their guilty pleas and the time they have spent in custody awaiting trial.

King Andrews was represented by public defender Nicholas Rampersadsingh and Shanice Edwards while Marcus was represented by attorneys Peter Carter and Samantha Ramsaran.