A seven-member jury yesterday unanimously declared 31-year-old Latoya Wilks, the former line cook charged with the 2012 murder of 40-year-old Italian chef Paolo Avigliano at a St Andrew restaurant, guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

The verdict came just under an hour after the group retired to consider the legal issues raised during the trial which began last Wednesday. The jurors, who had retired about 1:45 pm, returned to the courtroom at 2:30 pm and delivered the verdict.

Wilks, who was out on bail since 2012 but who was remanded in custody on Monday evening ahead of yesterday’s verdict, will now have to wait until April 17 for sentencing.

Yesterday, seconds after the foreman read the verdict, Wilks’ elderly aunt, who had attended in the company of several members of her church family for support, placed her hands over her mouth, her forehead wrinkled in distress. As the courtroom emptied, the petite woman, who sought refuge on one of the benches outside the courtroom, sobbed in distress while being hugged by another female.

Sighing heavily, one supporter — who told the Jamaica Observer she was a member of Wilks’ and her aunt’s church family — said the moment was proving painful. She said Wilks was an only child, noting that her mother resided overseas and had been waiting to hear the outcome of the day’s court proceedings.

Yesterday, trial judge Justice Vivene Harris, in the wake of the jury’s pronouncement, thanked the individuals for their “service to country and parish”.

“I know you went over by two days, so I thank you for your extra service. While you can discuss your experience, remember that the content of your deliberations and discussions in the jury room is to remain confidential for the rest of your natural lives,” the judge reminded, while encouraging the individuals to prompt others who have been called to jury duty to so serve.

The court, in the meantime, ordered a social enquiry report for Wilks on the request of her attorney Sean Kinghorn, as well as a police antecedent report.

Yesterday morning, Justice Harris ended her summation, which began on Monday afternoon, urging jurors to divorce themselves emotionally from the gruesome contents of the video recording and stills of the killing entered into evidence from surveillance cameras at the restaurant.

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.

The prosecution, in mounting its case, had 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 with when he splashed her accidentally with hot oil on the night of the incident 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 limit and 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 which would see him throwing objects, punching walls, and even breaking his own fingers.

Under Section 9 of the Offences Against the Person Act, the maximum sentence for the offence of manslaughter is life or a fine, while the statutory minimum is three to 10 years (diminished responsibility). The usual starting point, according to the sentencing guidelines, is five years (diminished responsibility).

Last Thursday, Wilks, in an unsworn testimony from the dock, rehashed for the court a series of encounters which she said led up to her delivering the fatal blow. The then 23-year-old told the court that the situation escalated after she reported Avigliano to the manager of the restaurant at the time.

“You (expletive deleted) bitch, informer muss dead… you are an (expletive deleted) informer,” she said he ranted, further telling her, “yuh (expletive deleted) black bitch; mi a go get rid a yuh tiddeh”, and also threatened to take up a skillet that was nearby to douse her with hot oil.

According to Wilks, in the lead-up to the fatal moment, Avigliano — who had exited the kitchen — re-entered in a fit of rage, took up an eight-inch knife off the table and threatened to throw it at her.

She said when she told him she would be reporting him to the boss again, and started walking away to do so, he told her he would “strangle” her.

“I have seen Pablo angry before, I have seen him upset, I have seen him in his temper tantrums before, but that look he had on his face when he said it [and] was walking towards me, it is as if he was possessed. His eyes were red, I have never seen that look on his face before… I did not know what he was going to do, but in that moment I was afraid. He grabbed on to me and when he grabbed me I took up the knife and held it up,” Wilks testified.

“I had no intention of using the knife to stab him or hurt him, I just wanted him to see the knife and back off… I thought he would back off …I was trying to push him off and I kept going backward and he pushed me. I stumbled, my hand went down with the knife and I don’t know what happened after that,” she told the court at the time.

After the stabbing Wilks said she was shocked and did not know what to do.

In the video of the incident shown to the court during the trial, Wilks’ co-workers at the time were seen frantically trying to help Avigliano, who stood stock-still for several moments after being stabbed, clutching his neck as blood gushed from the wound, thoroughly soaking his white garb before he fell to the floor. The panicked individuals could be seen trying to stop the flow of blood at one point and attempting to support the upper body of the dying chef, while others fled from room.