BELIZE CITY, Fri. May 4, 2018– Kevaughan Staine, 25, aka “Bigga”, charged with the attempted murder of his cousin, Taisha Staine, 23, was found guilty of the charge today by Justice Colin Williams in a trial that was without a jury.
Crown Counsel Rene Montero submitted that the sentencing guidelines require a social inquiry report. As a result, Justice Williams ordered that the report be submitted on or before September 5, and he adjourned sentencing until September 24.
The attempted murder occurred sometime after 10 p.m. on December 31, 2013. Taisha, testified that she was walking on Gladden Street, returning home from a corner shop, when Kevaughan rode up to her on a bicycle and took out a firearm from the waist of his pants. He then shot her in her neck from about 3 feet away, she said. From her neck, the bullet entered her chest.
Taisha said she ran, and while she was running, she heard some more shots. She said she fell in a yard near her home and while she was on the ground, Kevaughan fired some more shots. She was shot a total of 9 times, and the bullets struck her left leg, her left hand, her back and her chest.
Taisha’s mother, Germaine Thompson, testified that while she was at home she heard a popping sound, and when she looked through her window, she saw a person, whose back was turned to her, by the gate.
She said that when the person turned around, she saw that it was Kevaughan.
Kevaughan gave a statement from the dock in which he denied that he committed the offence. He said he was wrongly accused and that it was a case of mistaken identity.
But Justice Williams ruled that the identification evidence was enough to convince him that Kevaughan was the culprit.
Kevaughan was represented by attorney Hubert Elrington.