After a weeks-long legal proceeding at the Port of Spain High Court, a San Juan resident has been cleared of serious assault charges stemming from a 2019 incident in which he was accused of choking a woman at his private residence. On Wednesday, a nine-member jury delivered a unanimous not guilty verdict before Justice Sherene Murray-Bailey, dismissing two alternative counts of grievous bodily harm brought against 44-year-old Stefan O’Brien.
The charges date back to July 13, 2019, when prosecutors from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions alleged that O’Brien first encountered the complainant, Zakiya Penn, in the early hours of the morning along Ariapita Avenue. According to the prosecution’s narrative, the pair left the area together in O’Brien’s vehicle, after which he drove them back to his San Juan home. Prosecutors claimed that once inside, O’Brien made unwanted sexual advances toward Penn, then physically attacked her by choking her on two separate occasions.
Penn took the stand during the trial to confirm the prosecution’s account, stating that she ultimately managed to flee the property, flag down help from a neighbor who lived close by, and was transported to a local medical facility for treatment the same morning. To build their case, state prosecutors led by attorneys Chenelle Moe and Roger Hinds presented testimony from Penn, her then-boyfriend Rakeem Moses, independent witness Kyle Caesar, and medical evidence provided by examining physician Dr Christiana Ramnarine.
Dr Ramnarine told the court that her examination of Penn conducted hours after the alleged incident revealed visible redness and bruising along Penn’s neck, as well as small hemorrhages in both of her eyes. Prosecutors argued that these clinical findings aligned directly with Penn’s claim that O’Brien had applied sustained, forceful pressure to her neck during the attack.
O’Brien has consistently denied all accusations against him from the time he was first charged. Represented by court-appointed public defenders Ayanna Norville-Modeste and Janeil Chuck, O’Brien told the court that Penn’s entire version of events was entirely fabricated, and that the violent encounter she described never took place at his home.
Over the course of the trial, the defense team systematically challenged the credibility of every witness called by the prosecution, identifying multiple inconsistencies between Penn’s testimony and the physical medical evidence entered into the court record. They also raised major questions about the conduct of the initial police investigation, pointing out several key investigative shortcomings: investigators never obtained nearby CCTV footage that could have corroborated or refuted Penn’s account of leaving the area with O’Brien, nor did they collect fingerprint or DNA evidence from the scene of the alleged attack. The defense also noted significant unexplained delays in progressing the case from initial investigation to trial.
Norville-Modeste and Chuck further emphasized that the medical findings documented by Dr Ramnarine did not support the extreme severity of the assault Penn alleged, and added that medical records confirmed Penn remained clinically stable immediately after the incident, contradicting claims of a near-fatal strangulation attack. After more than six hours of deliberation, the jury ultimately accepted the defense’s arguments and returned the not guilty verdict on both counts.