NASSAU, Bahamas, 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 of nearly six months.
Supreme Court had imposed a gag order preventing reporting of the retrial. One of her defense lawyers, Damian Gomez, KC, told reporters that his client has been “vindicated” by the verdict.
He said she was “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 differently. There was no case against her,” Gomez said.
The Court of Appeal 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, the country’s highest court, ruled that she had a case to answer. However, the local Court of Appeal was allowed to decide if a retrial would occur.
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 remained home for about 45 minutes, with Mrs. Vasyli visiting her daughter.
On March 24, 2015, a gardener found Mr. Vasyli on the kitchen floor dead with a stab wound to his neck.
and then 