Jamaican woman on trial for killing ex-boyfriend’s lover in Tamarac

A Jamaican woman accused of killing her romantic rival in a jealous rage after flying from New York to Florida is now awaiting a jury’s verdict in her first-degree murder trial.

Sakiyna Thompson, 31, is charged in the July 2022 stabbing death of 23-year-old Kayla Hodgson, who was dating Thompson’s ex-boyfriend. According to the Broward Sheriff’s Office, Thompson flew to South Florida days before the killing with the intent to murder Hodgson. Prosecutors said she was enraged that Hodgson had blocked her on social media after a series of tense messages.

Hodgson was later found stabbed dozens of times inside her Tamarac Village Apartments home. During the trial, jurors were shown graphic police body camera footage of the crime scene.

Thompson, who took the stand for a second time Monday, testified that she went to Hodgson’s apartment uninvited to talk “woman-to-woman” about their shared romantic interest. But the conversation, she said, quickly escalated.

“She just starts grabbing my hair and punching me,” Thompson told jurors. “I’m on the floor. I’m kicking. I’m trying to get up to fight back at this point cause now it’s a fight.”

Thompson said she was two months pregnant at the time and that Hodgson struck her over the head with a hookah stem before slashing her stomach with a piece of glass. “I killed her because she took the glass from the hookah and slashed me across my stomach,” she said.

Thompson told the court she “blacked out” during the struggle and only regained awareness when Hodgson was already dead. “I told her I was pregnant and I felt like she was trying to hurt my baby. I didn’t just fight for me. I fought for me and my baby.”

After realizing what had happened, Thompson said she panicked. She admitted to cleaning up parts of the scene with Lysol wipes and paper towels, throwing away her bloody clothes, and changing into Hodgson’s outfit before leaving. Surveillance footage later showed her exiting the apartment complex in different clothing from when she arrived around 4 a.m.

“I was pregnant, and I just killed somebody,” Thompson told the courtroom, explaining why she didn’t call police.

Prosecutors argued that Thompson traveled to Florida with clear intent to kill Hodgson, calling her “jealous and insecure.” The defense, however, maintained that Thompson acted in self-defense after being attacked and feared for her unborn child.

“The woman-to-woman conversation that Sakiyna had in mind had escalated and turned into something more than what she planned when she went to go talk to Kayla woman-to-woman,” defense attorney Emma Wilkes told jurors.

The defense rested Monday afternoon, and the jury began deliberating Tuesday. If convicted, Thompson faces life in prison.