An attorney in Trinidad and Tobago was sentenced to 19 years in prison for conspiring with three other persons to kill his secretary in 2001.
In court on Friday, justice Maria Wilson handed down the sentence to Joseph Melville.
The attorney has been sentenced for Conspiracy to Murder, Attempted Murder, Kidnapping and Assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Conspiracy
The court heard that on the 28th June, 2001, Melville conspired with three other persons to kill his secretary, Patricia Cox.
It’s reported that Melville had been hired by Veronica Rostant to administer the estate of her late son. On the 26th June, 2001, Rostant visited Melville’s office with a police officer, PC Frank – who asked Melville when Rostant would get the monies owed to her from the estate.
Melville told Frank and Rostant that she would “get organized” by Friday 29th June, 2001.
Believed secretary leaked information’
The accused believed that Cox was responsible for “talking his business” with Frank and Rostant and, thus, he arranged with three other persons to have her killed.
On the 28th June, 2001, the accused asked Cox to go and collect statements and bring them back to him.
He directed her to go into a vehicle with three other men.
Those men eventually took her to the community of Cumberland Hill. While there, one of the men, named Holder, held a stone over her head threatening to bash her head in. He and another man (Ainsley Alleyne) then proceeded to debate how they should kill her. Cox used the opportunity to throw herself off a cliff.
She was eventually taken back up by Holder where he started to choke her. He eventually let go of her when someone called out to him.
Secretary escapes
Cox regained consciousness and went under a cliff where she hid till the early morning hours.
Cox, who had been stripped naked, then walked through the forest and eventually arrived at a house at around 1 pm where she was assisted.
The accused was arrested but denied any knowledge of the incident.
Ainsley Alleyne was also arrested and gave a statement to the police. He was eventually granted immunity and became a witness for the State.
Alleyne died after giving evidence in the preliminary enquiry.
His deposition was read at the trial.
