Wife of Bahamian millionaire found not guilty of his death

NASSAU, Bahamas, Mar 10, CMC -A jury has found Donna Vasyli not guilty of murdering her millionaire podiatrist husband, Philip Vasyli, who was stabbed to death in 2015.

The jury on Thursday night returned the not guilty verdict in the retrial nearly six months. The .

Supreme Court had imposed a gag order preventing reporting of the retrial and one of her defence lawyers, Damian Gomez, KC, told reporters that his client has been “vindicated” by the verdict.

He said she is “overwhelmed with joy” and that no new evidence had been introduced during the trial.

“No new evidence, just the weakness in the Crown’s case was deployed in a different way, there was no case against her,” Gomez said.

The Court of Appeal had quashed Mrs Vasyli’s conviction in 2017. She had been serving a 20-year sentence at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services before her conviction was overturned.

In June 2020, the London-based privy Council, which is the country’s highest court, had ruled that she had a case to answer. However the local Court of Appeal was allowed to decide if a retrial would take place.

The Vasylis were married for 34 years and according to previous evidence, on March 23, 2015, the husband fell down the stairs while drunk, cutting his back on glass from picture frames.

Later that afternoon, the couple entertained three people and after the guests left, they remainhed at home for  about 45 minutes with Mrs Vasyli leaving to visit her daughter.

On March 24, 2015, a gardener found Mr Vasyli on the floor of the kitchen dead with a stab wound to his neck.

We want to hear from you! Email us at star@gleanerjm.com and follow @thejamaicastar on Instagram and on Twitter @JamaicaStar and on Facebook: @TheJamaicaStar, or on Whatsapp @ 876-550-2506.