Passageway murder trial…Victim was aggressor

Shane Rowley

Defence witness Joy Anne Rowley, testifying yesterday in the trial of her son Roger Pilgrim, who is accused of killing his neighbour in A’ Field Sophia in 2011, said the victim had been chasing her son with a chain before he retaliated by stabbing the man.

Rowley, the mother of Pilgrim, said she was washing clothes when she heard their neighbour, Shane Rowley, and one of her sons having an argument in the yard. She stated that she came out of the bathroom and told Shane to stop arguing but he continued.

She said Shane lashed her with a chain across her face and they started to fight and he ripped her dress all the way down. She said Pilgrim came out and yelled, “How you gon knock my mother?” Shane then slammed the chain into him, she said, and he chased him around the yard. She said she saw her son pick up a knife and