(CMR) A Jamaican woman who was convicted in 2022 of unlawful wounding after stabbing a coworker in a salon fight had her conviction thrown out by the Court of Appeal after claiming her lawyer did not properly present her case because she declined his sexual advances.
Aisha Jamilah English (33) was sentenced to 21 months in prison, but after serving six months last June, she appealed her sentence on the grounds of incompetence and sexual harassment by her attorney, Keith Myers.
Last Friday, senior prosecutor Scott Wainwright said while the crown could argue that Myers did as he was instructed by his client, the crown was not resisting the appeal because the inappropriate messages sent by Myers proved English was sexually harassed.
English's attorney for the appeal, Simon Csoka, KC, read parts of the WhatsApp conversation between Myers and English during the hearing.
The court heard that Myers messaged the woman, telling her that he missed her, to which she replied that she missed him too. She then told him she was going to bed, and he replied, “Lucky man.”
When she asked what he meant the following day, he told her that if it had been him, he would have “kissed and kissed you.”
Myers reportedly took the woman out for a few hours and continued texting her. Just days before the trial, the woman told Myers she was under the impression that if she didn't see him, he would not help her.
Myers then responded that he thought they liked each other and told her she did not have to spend time with him if she did not wish to.
Court of Appeal President Sir John Goldring said, “These messages are inexplicable in any form of professional conduct.”
English, who had been on bail, was then told she was free to go.
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