Shonovia Thomas, convicted last June of manslaughter by reason of provocation, has appealed her conviction and 10-year prison sentence, according to a court document obtained by the Beacon Tuesday.
Ms. Thomas, represented by attorney Tana’ania Small of Farara Kerins, asked the Court of Appeal either to overturn her conviction and enter “a verdict of acquittal” or to reduce her sentence to “not more than five years’ imprisonment,” taking into account “19 months on remand in calculation of [Ms. Thomas’] service of her sentence.” The notice of appeal was filed July 26, 2010.
A High Court jury convicted Ms. Thomas on June 15, 2010 of manslaughter by reason of provocation, but acquitted her of murder, in the Oct. 2, 2008 stabbing of her ex-boyfriend Archie Todman. Ms. Thomas claimed she stabbed Mr. Todman with a steel-tipped comb just outside of his Huntums Ghut home during an altercation. Prosecutors argued at the time that she in fact stabbed him in bed, after he rejected her when she came to the apartment around 2 a.m.
Ms. Thomas testified in her trial that she acted in self defence, and didn’t intend to kill him.
“I just wanted to get him off me. I thought the comb would just shock his hand or something, you know, and there would be an automatic reaction or something,” she said.
After the stabbing, Ms. Thomas said, she was afraid Mr. Thomas, who was lying on the ground, was merely acting, so she took four knives from his apartment to protect herself and walked to her Joes Hill home.
The full article appears in the March 3, 2011 issue.