Man accused of murder of daughter and ex-partner

Old Bailey. Photo: Tim Crook

Old Bailey. Photo: Tim Crook

A man slit the throat of his 22-month old daughter and killed his ex partner using a machete, hammer and screwdriver after she discovered he was married to another woman, an Old Bailey jury heard.

Fifty-three -year-old Roland McKoy is charged with the murder of 45-year-old Valerie Forde and their daughter Jazarah McKoy in their home in Oswald’s Mead in March this year.

Mckoy is pleading not guilty to both charges of murder and answered “no comment” to all questions in police interviews.

In December 2013, Forde had given Mckoy an ultimatum to leave their shared home by March 31. The 18-year-long relationship had broken down after Forde discovered that McKoy was married to another woman with whom he had two children, the jury heard.

The prosecutor, Edward Brown, QC,  said: “It is plain that McKoy attacked Ms Forde with the hammer, slashing her face and neck with the machete and stabbed her multiple times with the screwdriver.”

“It is equally clear that he used the same machete to cut Jahzara’s neck from one side to the other. The injuries are as shocking as they were brutal.”

A post-mortem examination found that Forde had suffered 17 hammer blows to the head, 15 machete lacerations and eight stab wounds to her abdomen. Jazarah McKoy had injuries to her neck and windpipe, one of which was 18 cm long and would have caused “fatal bleeding”, the jury was told.

Forde telephoned her eldest daughter, Carrise Forde, on the day of the murders before an argument broke with McKoy. The phone line was left open as the attacks began.

Carrise Forde listened to screams from her half-sister and mother before McKoy said: “This is the destruction that you have brought on to the family”, the court heard.

The jury, of six men and six women, heard how McKoy was found at the scene of the crime, curled up, surrounded by weapons. He then woke up and proceeded to vomit up bleach.

A note, on an A4 piece of paper, had been found over Ford’s face. It read: “Valerie Forde you never stop playing derty ticks (sic) for many years on all people places and things you targets. Now the world must see the sudden destru..tions (sic) you creates in our families, our home and on yourself Our fame in history Roland.”

Brown said the note “seeks in some perverse way to blame Valerie Forde for what had happened”.

The jury was told how Forde had become frightened of McKoy. She texted her sister in December 2013 saying: “Just looking at his face and body language tells me I have to be very, very careful and pray for my safety each day and night.”

Forde also visited Stoke Newington police station February 12, two months before the murders, to report threats that were made against her friends and family.

The case, being heard by Judge Charles Wide QC, is expected to last for two weeks.

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