KINGSTON, Jamaica — The seven member jury, which has heard nearly five days of evidence in the case involving Latoya Wilks, the former line cook charged with the 2012 murder of 40-year-old Italian chef Paolo Avigliano, retired this afternoon to consider its verdict.

Trial judge Justice Vivene Harris, who began her summation yesterday afternoon, ended her address shortly before 12:46 pm today.

“You will concentrate on trying to arrive at a unanimous verdict. You may take as long as you need. You are not under any pressure of time at all,” she instructed.

She further urged jurors to divorce themselves emotionally from the gory killing seen on video evidence captured by surveillance cameras at the restaurant on the night in question.

In instructing jurors to consider all the evidence in the case, she said, “The main issue for you is whether the prosecution has proved that the defendant was not acting in lawful self-defence”.

“There was a physical altercation. You need to see who touched who first…in this case it is a matter for you to decide whether the defendant honestly believed she needed to use force. The law is, a person does not have to wait to be hit or attacked before they defend themselves,” Justice Harris outlined. 

She said jurors must also establish whether there was provocation and whether the accused deliberately and intentionally stabbed the Italian with a view to causing his demise.

Wilks, the only child for her mother, sat in the dock, her head bent and arms folded across her lower abdomen for most of the morning’s hearing.

The prosecution in mounting its case has insisted that Wilks was a “cool and deadly” murderess who had calmly and intentionally plunged a 10-inch chef’s knife into the neck of the Italian after several arguments starting after he splashed her accidentally with hot oil that night, and refused to apologise, resorting instead to verbally assaulting her and issuing threats in an aggressive manner.

The defence for its part argued that Wilks was an individual of impeccable character who had been pushed beyond her limits and was forced to defend herself because of the aggression directed at her by a man it maintained was known for his wild temper and violent tantrums.

Alicia Dunkley-Willis