Feb 23, 2011
Woman Found Guilty Of Murdering Her Lover’s Wife
40-year-old fashion designer, Janet Douglas, of a Ziadie Gardens, St. Andrew address, is to be sentenced in the Home Circuit Court on March 11, after a jury deliberated for five hours yesterday, before finding her guilty of murdering her lover’s wife (32-year-old dressmaker Isolyn McGill, of Cornpiece district, near Hayes, Clarendon).
During the four-week trial, it was revealed that jealousy was the motive for the murder, because Douglas had a love affair with police Sergeant Glen McGill, Isolyn’s husband. Isolyn’s body, with 19 stab wounds, was found in bushes at Hillyfield district, off the Bustamante Highway in Clarendon on the night of November 24, 2000.
Douglas was first convicted of the murder in 2005 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. She was ordered to serve 25 years before parole. She appealed the conviction, and the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial because of a protracted evidence-related dialogue that took place between the trial judge and the prosecutor. The dialogue took place in the presence of the jury, which the appeal court said should not have happened.
There was no eyewitness to the murder, but the Prosecution relied on circumstantial evidence to prove its case. Evidence was given that Douglas went to the deceased’s home on November 24, 2000, and gave her money to purchase certain items in May Pen, Clarendon. Shortly after McGill left, Douglas drove off in a motorcar, heading in the same direction that McGill had gone. Douglas returned to the deceased’s house later in the evening. When the deceased did not return home, a search was launched, and her body was found. The items which the deceased had purchased at a supermarket were found in Douglas’ car, while the receipt for the items was found in the deceased’s pocket.
Douglas denied committing the murder.