Keiron Chitan, a 34-year-old farmer from St. Andrew has been found guilty of Non-Capital murder in connection with the January 2020 death of 16-year-old Lenisha Stanford, a secondary school student from Hermitage, St. Patrick.
The unanimous verdict was delivered by a 12-member jury at the St. George’s No. 1 High Court on Thursday, bringing an end to the four-year-old case.
Lenisha was found dead with a gunshot wound to the left side of her forehead at Chitan’s home in Carriere, St. Andrew.
Police have never recovered the gun used to shoot the school girl.
Her death, the first recorded homicide of 2020, sent shockwaves throughout Grenada and the McDonald College School community, where she was the captain of the netball team.
The high-profile trial, presided over by Madam Justice Paula Gilford, saw Senior Crown Counsel Howard Pinnock from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) presenting seven witnesses to support the case of Non-capital murder.
The convicted man was represented by Dr. Francis Alexis KC and faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Following the verdict, Dr. Alexis KC maintained his client’s defense, stating that “while Mr. Chitan was in one part of the building (his home at Carriere, St. Andrew, somebody entered the building and committed the heinous act.”
Dr. Alexis could not confirm whether his client would be appealing the verdict, noting, “We have to look at the entire criminal process, advise our client, and receive instructions from him and take it from there.”
Justice Gilford has ordered that Social Inquiry and Psychiatric reports be completed and submitted to the court by September 15 in preparation for the sentencing hearing scheduled for October 7.
The high court judge refused Dr. Alexis’s application for a continuation of the $50,000 bail with two sureties that was previously granted to Chitan in June 2020 amid measures to reduce the prison population during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chitan who has no prior convictions appeared calm and composed as the guilty verdict was read out to him, and has been remanded to the Richmond Hill Prison pending sentencing.