By Francis Joseph - Guardian.co.tt

August 19, 2008

Trinidadian Kelly Chadee-Forbes pleaded for mercy yesterday, telling the judge that she was only defending herself when she wrapped an electrical cord around the neck of her husband of only two months, and killed him.

She described herself as a caring person, but Judge Jerald Carter was not impressed, and sent the 29-year-old beautician to jail for 21 years.

Kelly killed her husband, Michael Forbes, 50, at their home in Merrick, Long Island, New York, on November 21, 2007.

“I don’t know if this is going to satisfy Mr Forbes’ family,” Judge Carter said, immediately after sentencing Kelly. “Nothing I can do today will bring Mr Forbes back. But I can assure them that for the next 21 years, you will be paying for your actions,” the judge said in Long Island County Courthouse.

Before the judge passed sentence, Kelly made a passionate plea for mercy.

“My life in Trinidad was not easy. When I was 19 years old, I was kidnapped and assaulted at gunpoint. A few years later, I became pregnant with my beautiful daughter Kadeshja.

“Her father and I were not married, so I became a single parent.

“When I was 24, I was raped. Thereafter, I moved to the United States to live with my brothers. I thought my daughter would have a better life and more opportunity,” the Trinidadian added.

While working at a beauty salon, she met Forbes.

“He pursued me with flowers, gifts and trips. He promised me and my daughter a better life. He said he wanted us to settle down and build a family together. I believed him.”

Kelly described herself as a loving person. She said it broke her heart to hear other people describe her as cold, mean, and greedy.

“Your honour, I thought Michael was a changed man, While he courted me, he promised me the world. I encouraged him to stop smoking and drinking.

“I encouraged him to eat better and to start exercising. I never asked him for anything. All I wanted was a safe, stable home for my daughter. Michael promised to give her one.”

Kelly said after the wedding in 2007, Michael changed.

“He tried to isolate me from my family and friends. He didn’t want me to work and he didn’t want me to spend time with my daughter.

“He began to abuse me emotionally, mentally and physically. He told me not to go to see my brothers, because he had enemies in Brooklyn.”

Kelly said on the fateful day, it was Forbes who wrapped the electrical cord around her neck.

“I survived by the grace of God and His mercy. He grabbed me and tried to put the cord around me a second time. I was afraid for my life and my daughter’s life.

“And I know in my heart that I am alive today because God gave me the strength to fight Michael off.”

Kelly said she was deeply saddened by her husband’s death.

“I pray for forgiveness. I hope that in time, they (the Forbes’ family) will understand that I acted in self-defence. I pray that you show mercy and understanding when you sentence me,” Kelly told the judge.

But Judge Carter imposed 21 years on the Trinidadian mother.

LI newlywed convicted of manslaughter for strangling husband

NYDailyNews.com

June 16, 2008

MINEOLA, N.Y. - A jury has convicted a Long Island newlywed of manslaughter, rejecting her claims of self-defense after she strangled her husband with an electrical cord in their home last November.

Authorities say 29-year-old Kelly Forbes killed her 50-year-old husband, Michael Forbes, in their Merrick home while her 7-year-old daughter slept in a nearby bedroom on Nov. 21, 2007.

The couple had married only two months before. Forbes had contended the killing was in self-defense.

District Attorney Kathleen Rice said after the verdict that jurors "saw through the defense's case and held Mrs. Forbes accountable for her actions."

Forbes faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced on July 18.

Long Island wife sent 'I did it' text, testifies ex-lover in slay trial

By Richard Weir - NYDailyNews.com

June 3, 2008

The then-lover of a woman on trial for strangling her husband last year in the couple's Merrick home told jurors Monday that she admitted killing him in a text message.

"No I did it" Kelly Forbes wrote to her paramour, Jeremy Bryant, 31, a former flight attendant, in a text message she apparently sent him at 8:19 a.m. on Nov. 21, 2007, in response to a series of questions he texted her.

Bryant said that Forbes, 29, who is accused of strangling her wealthy husband, Michael Forbes, 50, with an orange electrical cord while he lay in bed that morning, also called him on her cell phone hysterically crying shortly afterward.

When he asked her what happened, "She said they had argued the night before and she blacked out. When she came to, he was gone," he testified in Nassau County Court.

Bryant was a key witness for the prosecution.

Bryant said he met Forbes, who is on trial for first-degree manslaughter, when the newlywed contacted him online through his MySpace profile.

After "chit-chatting" for a few months, they finally met in person in October and engaged in sexual trysts at his home in Hempstead.

Asked by Assistant Nassau District Attorney Michael Canty if he ever observed any bruises or marks on his lover's body while they were intimate, Bryant said, "No, I never saw any signs of physical abuse."

Anthony Capetola, Forbes' defense lawyer, portrayed his client in his opening statements yesterday as a victim of spousal abuse and suggested her strangling her husband was an act of "self-defense."

When questioned by police in her home on the morning of her husband's death, Forbes, who waited more than an hour to call 911 at 8:48 a.m., told cops that she and her husband had quarreled the previous night and he slept in another room.

"He came at me with the cord," Forbes reportedly told police, saying that she kneed her beefy husband in the groin and used the cord to choke him.

"I was defending myself."

Forbes trial begins on Long Island

ABCLocal.go.com

June 2, 2008

MINEOLA (WABC) -- The dramatic 911 call made by a woman who police say killed her husband was played in court on Long Island Monday.

It was day one of the trial of Kelly Forbes, who says she killed her husband in self defense.

Long Island reporter Lauren DeFranco has more.

Prosecutors say Forbes waited more than an hour to call 911 after killing her husband, Michael. Instead, she apparently text messaged her new boyfriend, saying, "He's dead."

Prosecutors portray the 29-year-old Forbes as a cold-blooded killer, strangling her husband with a large electrical cord.

Here is a portion from the 911 call:

Forbes: "My husband was choking me this morning."
911 Operator: "OK, tell me where you are."

The killing happened in November at the couple's home in Merrick. Forbes claims she acted in self defense after struggling with an abusive man who spent five years in prison for rape and robbery.

But in opening arguments, prosecutors said she not a scratch on her neck and not a mark on her face after killing her husband. And before dialing 911, she began text messaging her boyfriend, with whom she was having an affair.

Today, Michael Forbes father took the stand to dismiss allegations of abuse.

"He treated her like a queen," he said. "There's a Mercedes sitting in the garage that he bought for her. A hundred miles on it."

But relatives say Kelly Forbes knows she has a lot at stake, including her 8-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. And she could possibly take the stand.

Kelly Forbes is charged with manslaughter and faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. The trial is expected to last two weeks.

Long Island wife Kelly Forbes charged with strangling husband

By Bob Kappstatter - NYDailyNews.com

November 22, 2007

A Long Island wife charged with strangling her 250-pound husband in their upper middle-class home while her 7-year-old daughter slept nearby was ordered held without bail Thursday.

The welterweight bride somehow managed to strangle her heavyweight husband with an electrical cord in the Merrick home, police said.

Kelly Forbes, 29, standing 5-feet-5 and weighing 150 pounds, was arraigned yesterday in 1st District Court in Hempstead on charges of murdering Michael Forbes, 50, who weighed 250 pounds and stood 6-feet-1.

Michael Forbes, who worked in real estate in Brooklyn, and his bride, a medical assistant, married in September after knowing each other for about a year, authorities said.

Police who responded to the couple's Frankel Blvd. home after a 911 call at 8:53 a.m. Wednesday found Michael Forbes unresponsive but alive, they said.

He was taken by ambulance to Nassau University Medical Center, where he died about an hour later, authorities said.

The Nassau County medical examiner determined the cause was asphyxiation, said Detective Sgt. Anthony Repalone.

Responding to a question of whether he already might have been unconscious when he was strangled, Repalone said, "Toxicology tests are being done on the victim" to determine if there were drugs in the victim's system.

The couple's home, which features an inground swimming pool and backs up to a waterway lined with private docks, was bought by the victim's father in August for $799,000, said its former owner, Dr. Dennis Gilman.