A father involved in a notorious 2008 child abandonment case in Toronto faces at least 15 years in prison in Jamaica. He was found guilty of killing his wife.
Former Toronto resident Alphanso Warren was arrested by Jamaican police in 2016. He stabbed his wife, Stephanie Warren, to death at a residence in Kingston in an argument on New Year’s Eve.
A key witness testified that he saw the couple quarrel in an apartment complex, senior crown prosecutor Andrea Martin-Swaby said.
[Le témoin] heard the deceased say, “Don’t hit me, don’t hit me”he clarified. [Elle] it was repeated over and over until his voice weakened.
A judge found Warren guilty on May 12 in court in Kingston.
In Jamaica, the murder sentence has a minimum sentence of 15 years, with the highest sentence of life imprisonment. Alphanso Warren, who was not guilty, will receive his sentence on June 23.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin in 2019, but was postponed to a later date and then faced further delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A turbulent past
Warren and his wife moved to Jamaica shortly after being convicted of abandoning their eight-month-old baby, Angelica-Leslie, on the stairs of a parking lot northeast of Toronto in January 2008, in a frigid night.
The girl was found alone, submerged with minor wounds and bruises, but later recovered and was adopted. Children’s Aid removed the couple’s three other children following the incident.
Warren was sentenced to 22 months in prison, but spent 11 months in custody pending trial and obtained credit. two for one which allowed him to be set free. The mother was fined under the Child and Family Services Act.
After their move, Jamaican police were called in early 2012 to investigate the disappearance of the couple’s two-year-old son.
They later pleaded guilty to covering up his death after neighbors discovered the child’s partially decomposed and mummified body in a suitcase in Warrens ’Kingston apartment.
The pathology report in the case showed that the toddler was likely to have died of pain, poisoning or dizziness, although it was impossible to prove the cause of death due to the condition of the remains after examination.
No parent has yet been charged in the child’s death.
Source: Radio-Canada