Jury considering verdict in 2007 murder of mentally ill St Ann man

Livern Barrett, Senior Gleaner Writer

The jury has started deliberations in the murder trial of a St Ann woman accused, along with her husband and three adult sons, of chopping, then stoning to death a mentally-ill man.

Velma Dean, her husband, Joseph, and their three adult sons, Jermaine, Dwight and Richard, are on trial for allegedly killing Stanley McLean in Coltart Grove, St Ann on July 6, 2007.

Justice Carol Lawrence Beswick, who is presiding over the trial, this morning completed her directions to the jury and indicated that they could consider the charge of manslaughter.

Lawrence Beswick told the panel of five men and two women that the question of self defence does not arise as there was no evidence to support this.

She also told them that if they have doubts, their verdict should be not guilty.

The trial featured a testimony from McLean's elderly father, Audley, who said he saw two of the Dean boys stoning his son's house.

Audley McLean testified that the stones destroyed the windows and doors to the unfinished two-room house and he saw Mrs Dean and two of her sons enter the home.

He said he saw Mrs Dean use a machete and chop her son all over his body.

Prosecutors Sharon Millwood-Moore and Hodine Williams have suggested that McLean was killed over a piece of electrical wire he removed from the Dean's home.

However, the attorney for the family, Ernest Smith refuted that account.

He acknowledged that there was a dispute over a piece of electric wire, but said Stanley McLean was killed by an angry mob after he chopped Joseph Dean.

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