Victim says she lives in constant fear of ex-boyfriend, Convict jailed for 3.5 years

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Cleofoster Lionel Waldron (Social media photo)
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By Latrishka Thomas

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“I became more fearful, and I worry constantly even up to now … fearful that he might come back and try to harm me or get someone to try and harm me,” the ex-lover of Cleofoster Lionel Waldron told the court yesterday.

After a short trial before Justice Ann-Marie Smith earlier this month, Waldron was convicted by nine jurors for unlawfully confining his girlfriend to his home, twice in 2017.

According to the facts of the case, Waldron reconnected with a former schoolmate in 2017 and they became romantically involved around June that year.

At some point, she heard rumours about him and confronted him, but he denied the rumours.

Despite this, she decided that she wanted to end the relationship, but he begged her to stay with him.

In July 2017, he asked her to come over so that they could speak. She dropped her son off and went to the home where they had a discussion.

The two could not agree and the defendant refused to accept that the relationship was ending.

He locked his house and a struggle ensued, but the woman could not get out of the house for almost an entire day.

She begged him to allow her to collect her son and even agreed not to tell anyone about what had happened, but he refused to let her go.

In fact, he threatened to kill both her and her son.

The woman was only able to escape when the defendant started having difficulty breathing, for reasons that remain unclear.

But while she was driving home after picking up her son, he tried to run her off the road, which prompted her to contact the police.

Days later, she met him outside of his house for him to give her some money he owed her, and so that she could return his key but, instead, he jumped into her vehicle and started arguing about their relationship.

Feeling threatened, the victim got out of the car.

Waldron then grabbed the car keys and ran into his yard and told her she would have to come for them.

When she went into the yard to collect her keys, he dragged her into the house and locked her in.

The defendant then had difficulty breathing again, which gave the victim the upper hand.

She quickly ran out of the house into the road and was almost mowed down by a car.

The driver gave her a ride to a police station and she told the police about the entire situation.

During his trial, Waldron told the court in an unsworn statement that he didn’t think it would have gotten that far, adding that the house had four doors and he did not tie her up so she could have left if she wanted to.

He however, apologised to her and the court.

Yesterday, the convict returned to court to be sentenced, but first, the victim was called to the stand to share how the incident has affected her.

She began by stating that she had to change her address “after he broke into my home and the police had notified me that they were unable to locate him at the time”.

The woman added that she was so traumatised that she would place a glass behind her window so that she would know if someone tried to enter her home.

She said she even kept recordings of her locking her door so that she could always be sure.

“I started renting vehicles and exchanging vehicles with my peers because I felt like he was still following me,” she continued.

She also told the court that she changed her number about five times because both Waldron and his parents would contact her, asking her to drop the case.

Someone was even sent to her workplace to make the same request.

As a result, she requested to work from home because she didn’t feel safe.

Defense attorney Warren Cassell accused the complainant of lying about the defendant contacting her and about the psychological impact of the ordeal.

He then sought to mitigate on his client’s behalf by advancing that there was no forced entry, no gang involvement and no evidence of psychological damage.

Cassell begged the judge for leniency by asking her to “consider the effects of children growing up without a father”.

 Waldron has nine minor children.

Cassell further purported that the incident, which was not egregious enough to be categorised as serious, was “marinated in acrimony”.

The Judge began her sentence with five years which was brought up due to aggravating factors and then back down.

In the end Waldron was sentenced to three years and six months at Her Majesty’s Prison.

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