Fish Vendor's Killer Sentenced: Woman Faces Over a Decade in Jail, Accomplice Over 20 Years

The woman who lured popular fish vendor Stephen Molly Small to the location where he met his death has over a decade more to spend in jail, while her male accomplice who inflicted the deadly stab has more than 20 years to serve.

Fish boner Verena Isilma Vasilka Cuffy of Wavell Gardens, Black Rock, St Michael, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the September 7, 2018 death of 59-year-old Small, was given a starting sentence of 28 years in prison.

After several legal considerations were taken into account, including her guilty plea and the time she had spent on remand, she was left with 12 years and 354 days to serve behind bars.

Her co-conspirator, Dave Fedel Aristide James, a labourer from Church Village, St Philip who pleaded guilty to non-capital murder, was given a starting sentence of 40 years in prison. From that time, he had 21 years and 217 days left to serve at Dodds after several factors were taken into consideration, including the time he had already spent on remand and his guilty plea.

Madam Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell handed down the sentences on the killers on Friday in Supreme Court No. 4.

According to a postmortem, Small, formerly of Henley Land, St John, died due to hemorrhagic shock secondary to stab wounds to the abdomen.

The boat owner plied his trade from the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex where Cuffy also worked.

The day before his death, Small was on his way home when Cuffy stopped him and requested a drop to the George Street Auditorium area to meet a friend. When he got to the area, Small stopped his vehicle and as Cuffy disembarked, an assailant, later identified as James, emerged from the darkness and stabbed him several times.

Following the attack, Small drove himself to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital accompanied by Cuffy. He succumbed to his injuries the following day.

Aggravating factors of the offence, the judge said, were that a life had been lost and the murder was committed in the course of a robbery which was premeditated and had a high degree of planning. A knife was used in the unprovoked attack.

Justice Smith-Bovell pointed out that from the facts, James walked up to Small’s vehicle and stabbed him through the car window even before he attempted to rob him. She pointed to the impact that Small’s death has had on his family and co-workers.

Cuffy, the judge said, based on the facts, appeared to have been the “mastermind of the plan” to rob Small and was aware that James was armed with a knife.

“There was an abuse of trust by the now convicted woman, as she was a friend of the deceased who lured him to the location where he met his death and he would have no reason to suspect that her request for a lift was not genuine.

“Although you were not the person who inflicted the stab wounds to the deceased, the court is satisfied from the facts that you were the person who set the chain of events in motion, and you are equally capable and maybe even more culpable in the death of Stephen Small than the [person] who actually did the stabbing,” Justice Smith-Bovell told Cuffy, adding that her actions showed “some level of depravity”.

“During this robbery, he [Small] was stabbed by her co-conspirator and subsequently died. It was known to her at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital that his prognosis was not good because she was advised by the hospital staff to contact his family. [Yet] Ms Cuffy showed no remorse or contrition and still went ahead and took the money from the vehicle after all that had transpired.”

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC was the prosecutor in the matter, while Cuffy was represented by Sian Lange. Attorney-at-law Verla De Peiza represented James.