Grand Fond man is guilty of manslaughter

Twenty-nine-year-old Dorian Dailey of Grand Fond will return to the Roseau High Court on Friday, July 14, 2023, to hear his sentence from trial judge Justice Thomas W. R. Astaphan.

A jury of eight women and one man took less than two hours, including an hour for lunch, to find him guilty of the manslaughter of his father, Maurice Murry Dailey, 62, on Thursday, May 26, just after 3:30 pm.

The State charged Dorian Dailey with the murder of his father, Maurice Murry Dailey, at Grand Fond between Monday, January 9, 2017 – Thursday, February 23, 2017.

Director of Public Prosecutions Sherma Dalrymple and State Attorneys Daina Matthew and Marie Louise Pierre Louis represented the State, with attorneys Darius Jones and Peter Alleyne conducting the defence.

Following addresses to the jury from Counsel Sherma Dalrymple and Darius Jones on Wednesday, May 24, Judge Astaphan addressed the jury on Thursday, May 25. First, Judge Astaphan explained the law as it pertained to the murder charge and how to proceed to a manslaughter verdict if there was any reasonable doubt in the evidence for a murder conviction.

The State closed its case on Tuesday, May 23, at about 11:38 am after former Magistrate's Court Clerk Tajuana Sully read into evidence the deposition of the 11th witness, Ferdinand Roberts of Grand Fond who was out of the jurisdiction.

Final Witness

According to the statement, Roberts, a farmer, knew both Daileys quite well, all from the same community.

Roberts said he left his home at about 6:00 am on Monday, January 9, 2017, and took a five-minute walk to the home of Murry Dailey. Dailey was not there. Roberts went on and saw Murry Dailey lying in an abandoned building with boxer shorts and no shirt on. He appeared to have slept there for the night. He had cuts all over his body, and his brain seemed to be showing through a cut in his head. He could not stand on his own.

Roberts said:"I called him, and he answered, "Yes, Armour!"

Roberts said he remained with Murry until an ambulance came and helped put the injured man in the vehicle, and it drove away.

"That afternoon, while cleaning my garden, I came across a knife," he said. "The garden is in the village close to the school and about 2-3 feet from Murry's house… and the abandoned house to Murry's house is about 10 feet."

Roberts called the La Plaine Police Station. The police came and took control of the knife. It was brown-handled, and the blade was about 10 inches long. He did not see Murry again until his burial.

Cuban pathologist gives evidence

With the services of a Spanish interpreter, Cuban Consultant Pathologist Dr Yaima Breachers Muniz performed the autopsy on the body of Maurice Murry Dailey at Princess Margaret Hospital Morgue on Thursday, March 23, 2017. The body had multiple injuries, with two severe lacerations to the head. Those head injuries were caused by a blow with a sharp object. One of those fractured the skull in the area above the right ear with brain matter coming out. It was the most severe injury.

Consequently, there was inflammation secondary to that injury which impacted bodily functions affecting motor and cognitive functions of the body, meaning that movements of joints and extremities were affected. The injuries were remote; they had happened more than a month before. There was severe generalized sepsis. In addition, the patient had bronchopneumonia, bacteria or infection found in the lungs. The bacteria travelled in the blood and reached the different organs in the body.

Dr Muniz said, in her opinion, Maurice Murry Dailey died of multiple organ failure as a consequence of generalized sepsis, the organs being the brain, lungs, liver and spleen, caused by the presence of severe bacterial infection present in the blood of this patient which travelled to all the organs; also by the unconscious state of the patient which caused him to acquire that infection. The cause of the unconscious state was that the patient suffered cerebral trauma with severe complications affecting all the motor and cognitive functions, which led him to be in a vegetative state. In the end, the kind of blunt force heavy enough and sharp to cause an injury like that could cause death.

Police Investigator interviews accused at CID

Police Investigator Jerry Frank met the accused, Dorian Dailey, at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). The officer told the accused that his father had died in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on February 23, 2017. He cautioned the accused who replied, "I want to tell you what happened."

Frank got a member of the public, Anthony Henderson, who witnessed the accused giving his statement, that is, responses to questions asked by Corporal Frank.

In a 40-minute interview, Dorian Dailey said his father told him he did not want him coming to his home. He said he had gotten the vibes already in jail. His father took a coal pot and threw it at him. He told his father he could not do that, and his father said, "One of us must die". Dorian said as he left; it was the jail he wanted him to go to. He told his father he was sorry.

And as he went to his place, he saw his father come by him and throw his things in the falaise (precipice). Dorian said he went by the school by his auntie's house. He saw his father looking for something, so he flashed his flashlight. Murry asked: Who is that?

"I said, Dorian. He told me to go. Leave his land. I lie down for two hours in the dasheen while my father is there making noise," the accused man said.

"I swung the cutlass two times. He go down on the floor… I never wanted to do him that. I carried him under the zaboca (avocado pear) tree. He asked for water. I went down to Rosalie. I left the cutlass under the zaboca tree."

During the trial, Dorian Dailey said nothing when it was his turn to make his defence, and he had called no witnesses, thus clearing the way for the addresses and the jury's retirement to consider their verdict. Judge Astaphan ordered a social inquiry report and submissions from counsel in June and set sentencing for Friday, July 14, 2023.