Watler admits killing boyfriend
Azzan Sherieff and Brianna Watler
(CNS): Brianna Michelle Watler (25) has admitted killing her boyfriend, Azzan Sherieff (23), during a fight last September in North Side, where the couple lived. Watler pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter when the charge was put to her in Grand Court Friday. Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards QC told the court that the crown was willing to accept the plea as there was significant evidence of provocation at the scene of the killing.
The country’s leading prosecutor said Watler had sustained a number of injuries, which police witnessed when they came to the scene of the fatal stabbing. Forensic evidence also supported the account that Watler gave when she was interviewed about what appears to have been a very violent domestic dispute. Sitting in the dock as Richards explained the case, Watler cried silently before a sentencing hearing was fixed and she was remanded in custody.
Watler will now be sentenced on 19 April, when the details of the case will be laid out by the crown and submissions about the sentence made on Watler’s behalf.
My son was verbally and physically abused by his now ex-wife. He would never hit her and would always walk away as he was taught never to hit a woman. This is wrong.
While men should never beat up on women, they should and must defend themselves. Women can be very aggressive and dangerous and because they know that men is stronger, they will ensure that their blows or, however they fight or use to fight with, is effective.
One weekend my son couldn’t take it anymore and told his ex-wife he had had enough and he was leaving her.
She took his car keys and tried taking his phone so that he couldn’t call anyone to pick him up.
He managed to get a video call through to me, and while I was talking to him she was ranting and raging, smashing up stuff in the house and threatening to stab him.
The phone lines were left opened so I decided to record the entire thing while I used my house phone to call the police.
Upon arriving at the house I saw that the police had already reached there, but instead of my son’s wife being handcuffed and taken to the police station, my son was in handcuffs and being read his rights.
His very distraught wife was crying uncontrollably and accusing him of beating her up. She was showing off her wrists where they were red and bruised.
I then produced the video I had recorded where she pulled the knife and tried to stab him. He being larger and stronger and a trained athletic and fighter only held her by her wrists to disarm her.
The police released him and charged her, but she howled like a banshee and my son felt sorry for her and asked for her not to be charged. In my opinion, the police should have still taken her and charged her being that they had a video showing her being the aggressor.
This drama played out a few other after that until I really had to step in to save my son from being killed or going to jail.
I stood up to that she devil and told her to fight me instead since she seemed to enjoy violence.
She backed down but decided to call the police on me and charge me with threatening her. The police came and wanted to arrest me. They did not because I also recorded the particular episode and again it showed her as the aggressor.
The police themselves concluded that my son’s wife was violent and it was better that my son left the house until she had cooled down.
By this time he realised she had a violent nature and it was just a matter of time before someone got seriously hurt. He divorced her.
In a domestic setting, women can be the instigators of violence and they should be treated as any man that is violent.
This case is so sad and that youngman did not deserve to loose his life by someone he was in a relationship with. This could have been avoided if the laws applied to women in a domestic case as it does to men.
The youngman is dead and she.can say anything to save herself but it doesn’t change the fact that she is a killer.
There are no winners here. Two young lives destroyed and a precious mother has to live with this very sad truth, her son was murdered by this youngnwoman that was supposed to love him.
To the mother of the deceased. You have to stay strong and look to God for His peace. I wouldn’t change places with you for all the money in this world so I cannot say that I understand how you feel. I can only say, Gid be with you.
Your son’s story has NOTHING to do with Ms. Watler’s case – but thanks sharing it though. Again – the evidence is there and if it had been the other way around and she was killed as he was clearly trying to do – the evidence would have shown that too. Just wait till it is all revealed. You will see what is what then. Clearly everything needs to be spelt out for unna to grasp it – so hopefully the judge will do just that and spell out every single detail.
Be thankful that your son was able to contact you.
I would like to ask though, do you know the situation of these two? Do you know if she had the opportunity to call anyone for help? Do you know how many times he had to be pulled off her or threatened to be hurt if he didn’t release her? Do you know if she made police reports or was even able to? Do you know if he didn’t take her phone from her or monitor her calls so she couldn’t call people? Well do you?
I would think someone who saw their own child in an abusive relationship would have some compassion knowing what an abusive relationship is actually about. Thank God your son was able to call you. Thank God you were able to video. Thank God no-one lost their life, which you can see could so easily have happened. Neither of the families in this situation were so lucky.
If either of the parents in this particular situation knew of the abuse, they most certainly would have intervened. I know both families and both are responsible parents.
As an FYI, Murder is defined as the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another.
She is not a murderer, she caused the death of the man she loved in the apartment which they lived in, after provocation on the particular day and historically, but none of us know how long this provocation actually lasted.
No-one won in this situation, no-one.
Both families have been hurt immensely by this situation. Both mothers are extremely hurt for both of the losses, one more than the other as her child will never be returned to her, but both mothers feel the loss of both of the children. Yes they are their children.
God bless you and your son. Hug him tighter today as you are truly blessed.
You also sound like one of those mother-in-laws from hell. The ones who obsess over their baby boys and swear they can do no wrong. I know because I had this same idiotic, nagging, controlling, itch of a MIL to deal with. Everyday for 5 years I wished I had run for the hills before I got involved with that crazy breed but I eventually got out with my sanity and body parts intact. Thank you sweet Jesus for clarity and late found wisdom. If she had invested half her energy in her own marriage instead of mine, she’d probably still have a husband. It’s my fault too for taking to long to realize I married a mama’s boy bitch and not a man.
Unpopular opinion incoming that will probably unnerve many women.
According to Harvard, and the CDC (and most academic research), women actually represent the majority of cases of IPV (what we consider to be domestic violence). In majority of cases, the men are actually hitting back.
The RCIPS/DPP are also well known for ignoring cases of domestic violence where the women is the abuser, unless the man suffers injuries reported to the hospital, since that is when a paper trail becomes necessary.
However, these same groups are known for immediately arresting or charging men who defend themselves.
The new ombudsman office is currently investigating this ongoing discrimination by the RCIPS/FSU unit after a 5 year long complaint was submitted by myself.
Ultimately, we don’t know who started what in that home. One of the parties can no longer plead his case, however the community should be cautioned on believing anything emanating from the DPP office on domestic violence matters. Whether this woman was abused or the abuser, the community will never know for sure.
I realize women tend to get very angry when acknowledging domestic violence matters. There’s a common belief that women are “allowed” to hit and initiate violence, and that a man should just take it and walk away. We see it on TV, movies, commercials etc. But that is not equality. That is not even common sense or logical. It’s dangerous.
The RCIPS and DPP need to start treating women equally culpable to men, or the problem will only get worse. Women’s groups need to be speaking up for this. The Crisis Centre and other entities needs to stop ignoring the evidence that “women” are themselves driving the domestic violence problem. Until the community begins speaking up against female initiated abuse, the problem will get worse.
Did you miss the part where the EVIDENCE proved what she said happened?
You can’t fabricate evidence in either party(s) favour.
I understand what you are saying though, as there are many men being abused and who either through embarrassment that they are a victim, or otherwise, do not report such incidents. I personally know of a man who has been assaulted by his wife, and who won’t report her due to his ego.
I do however know that in this particular case, people have confirmed witnessing more than one altercation where in fact the victim was the aggressor.
I think we need to put personal opinions aside here, as the case was obviously investigated including forensics, which no-one can alter.
I totally agree with your post. I’ve been harrassed and stalked on multiple occassions, while at all times trying to walk away and difuse the situation. But guess what, as a man i’m not allowed to react, even after i’ve alerted security personnel who might as well moon light as a traffic cone. Now as a man if I harrassed a woman for 2 mins I would be locked up! The same goes for “defamation of a woman’s modesty”. Does this work both ways? I don’t know the circumstances surrounding what happened that day, and my comment might not even be relevant to this case, but by having fair laws that deal with harrassment from both genders can help navigate potential tragedies.
The RCIPS and DPP frequently do not submit all of the evidence, nor make rational decisions based on the evidence they have. They have a section of evidence for “Unused Material”.
The MET in the UK is currently under investigation for withholding information specifically against men which would otherwise assist their defense and prove their innocence. The UK and our own RCIPS target men, and do what they can to alleviate sentencing for women.
What the evidence shows is that there was an altercation between this couple. She stabbed him MULTIPLE times. We do not know who started it. We do not know how it started. We do not know how she attained her injuries and whether they were attained from him acting in self-defense.
Stop spreading lies! There were NOT multiple stab wounds. Liar!
Multiple stab wounds! Say what?
You performed the autopsy then right? Or are you going by the Marl Road story? And we all know what Mark road news is.
More than one wound can’t be less than murder so nice try! The murder charge would have stuck.
PS The DPP does not represent the Defendant but the Queen.
“The officers who saw Ms. Watler immediately on their arrival observed that she had fresh injuries to her arms, hand, neck and mid-back, among others.” Quote from the Cayman Compass story on this matter.
Her neck and mid-back sound like pretty good offensive weapons to me. Not!
Can you show us the evidence that he was stabbed MULTIPLE times because I read that nowhere?
this was my comment, and if it was mistaken, please accept the apology. I may have misread a previous article somewhere else.
Thank you for clarifying.
“What the evidence shows is that there was an altercation between this couple. She stabbed him MULTIPLE times.”
So you were the pathologist that performed the autopsy? Or are you the defense lawyer? You can’t be the DPP because you would not talk badly about yourself.
I have not read in this article or any article or document from any reputable agency that he was stabbed multiple times.
Can you share where you are getting this evidence that states that he was stabbed multiple times?
If not, then please stop trying to pass off your alternative facts as evidence.
So to be clear you are saying that the autopsy showed multiple stab wounds and the pathologist put this in his report but the DPP decided to alter the autopsy report, present it to the court and say that he was stabbed once and put the original report as “Unused Material?”
You really are a special kind of stupid.
Certain portions of what you say are true for instance if you look in the Penal code you will find some areas that prescribe a larger punishment for men, when it is perfectly possible for women to commit the same heinous crime and I am not just talking about a couple months difference
The male sentence can be up to double the length of a female counterpart.
There is a lot of residual discrimination in the criminal justice system, everyone knows that men are more likely to be convicted, and face harsher sentences simply because they are men
happened to me too with x wife….she pushed me down in kitchen and was provocating y hitting me …saying…hit me nah…so i can take you northward! i walked away y left house…rented…divorced and now 10 tomies better off financially y emotionally than her! even have another child by a wonderful woman☺? .. .just walk away guys…
Also happened to me but I got out thanks be to God. One of the side effects is that if I date someone whom I think loses temper too quickly or for no reason I speed out of there. No brake marks. Hard to bond but being alone is not a problem. It is preferable than being abused.
That’s what happens when you have skewed laws that ‘over-protect’ one gender over the other. Though the lawmakers had good intentions, they say the road to hell was paved with good intentions. Women should be treated equally to men, yet many women nowadays have it in their heads that they can do whatever they want to men and men must stand up and take it because women know that the law will side with them. The laws need to be more gender neutral – nobody should be hitting anybody, and self-defense shouldn’t be considered abuse.
The story says the EVIDENCE proved it.
That is all, not because she is female.
Sorry! I meant thumbs up! ?
I have read all the comments on this tragic situation, and everyone makes valid sense of the situation of domestic violence . I think that there’s a lot that we can learn from this situation in preventing domestic violence and letting these issues getting out of hand . But we must be able to see and understand the consequences of our behaviors before we commit to the decision to this kind of rage. There’s more need for education and understanding of domestic violence.
I am glad that all this infornation is now coming out in the courts.
When it was reported initially, many seemed so eager to condemn this young lady not knowing all the facts.
It is sad that the young man lost his life but it is also sad that this young lady was also abused.
My condolences to the family of the young man and also my heart goes out to the family of the young lady who will now undoubtedly go to prison.
I hope they didn’t have kids because if they did, they lost both mother and father.
If friends knew of the abuse and did nothing, they are just as guilty.
We have to get away from this attitude of “it is not my business”.
A very violent domestic dispute does not necessarily mean that he initiated it. Nonetheless a very sad situation, one young life lost and the other ruined. We need to find more constructive ways to deal with issues that do not involve abuse- physical or emotional- leaving is certainly a better choice.
Leaving isn’t always so easy.
Let her go. She just defended herself.
If it were the other way around where the man killed the woman, I doubt anyone would be saying, “let him go. He just defended himself.”
If the EVIDENCE supported him defending himself, then it would be the same thing.
Come on put the personal feelings aside.
Comments on the website are lopsided. It takes two to tango.
Domestic abuse is not always man on woman. It’s sometimes woman on man. And in this case all of you know it alls should be quiet. He was a respectable young man. Who wouldn’t hit a woman.
The EVIDENCE as presented by the court proves that he was in fact an abuser. Get your head of the sand. You can try to protect his image all you want – but facts are facts – and there were also people who saw the abuser side to him in person.
Well dead men tell no tales,I guess we can only believe what she says,remember there’s always 3 sides to a story,his an hers,and the truth.
I suppose the EVIDENCE isn’t the third side to the story?? That is the truth. You can’t fix the evidence.
Well if the shoe was on the other foot,the young man would have been facing a life sentence,doesn’t matter what EVIDENCE they had,when it comes to domestic violence it is a two way street and it takes two to tango,and if she was being beaten so badly by this young man why didn’t she just run away,no she decided to stay and provoke the situation more in which it lead her to take his life,there’s a saying,If you can give licks you can better take them,now this young man has lost his life and his family has lost their loved one,and the DPP is sympathetic because she too is also a woman,and now that will allow them to carry their personal feelings into the court of LAW, and give this young lady(with her crocodile tears)the least time possible,ahh boy, hell has no fury like a woman’s scorn,I agree that self defence could be use as a mitigating factor, but that is not the case now is it,and the only EVIDENCE that should be in the court of LAW is that she murdered this young man,I rest my case.
Obviously you have a personal issue with the situation and I sympathize with you, but EVIDENCE is EVIDENCE. If it had been her dead, the Court would also rely on EVIDENCE.
Unfortunately you don’t appear to have any idea of what an abusive relationship is. Suppose she did try to leave but he didn’t allow her to by threatening her life? None of us know in their particular case, but I know personally of situations where the woman tried to leave and was told if they left they would be killed. Unless you are or were in her situation, you have no idea what you would do.
Please also define MURDER per the Laws of the Cayman Islands or anywhere else for that matter.
When the facts are all revealed at her sentencing you will see who was the aggressor on this particular day. For now, I will let you go ahead and believe your little made up version of who he was. Ever heard the saying: “See me and come live with me – are two very different things?” I assure you you will be sadly surprised by who did what to whom on that day. And the facts will be revealed by solid verified forensic undeniable EVIDENCE – not some made up idea or hear say about a person’s character. You do NOT know what you are talking about. That much I know. But go ahead – believe whatever you want, believe whatever little made up nonsense you heard on the street. The facts have already started to be revealed. Hope you noted that the PROSECUTION is who confirmed that there was EVIDENCE of HER being provoked. I know that might be hard for you to understand so let me help you out – the court’s own attorneys confirmed that there is solid evidence that this young woman was provoked at that scene on that day. The first responders confirmed it as well! So in your world – our firemen/ambulance crew/police officers/and DPP are all liars who working to help one single person out??? Think again.
Yes yes yes,their all bias because ten to one all of the above mentioned is probably women or gay,I don’t know the case but what I do know is that she left to go get a knife to commit premeditated murder and if she carried a knife on her person at all times then that alone should tell you what type of mentality she has,I was in a relationship with a female family member of the defendant, and she used to go through my phone all the time especially when I’m sleeping,and one night she saw a message to my baby mother(just wishing her a happy birthday)and I was awoken by her standing next to me holding a kitchen knife crying and trembling,I had to wrestle her to the ground and take the knife away,and that same night I packed my things and left never to return, so the moral is if you are in an abusive relationship then leave,call the police or get help from the crisis centre,that’s what their there for,after all we don’t live in a rouge state like the middle East,and if you chose to stick around because of love,that only means you love the licks,now their personal feelings are the only EVIDENCE their going to carry to court,adding insult to injury for the deceased,and most likely she’ll be given a slap on the wrist for her heinous crime,so much for gender equality,B.S..
Yet another LIE. Please just stop. None of that is even relevant. The facts are the facts and you too will be shocked
By the truth when they are fully released.
Are you serious? The incident happened IN THE APARTMENT THEY SHARED.
You say, and I quote “I do know is that she left to go get a knife to commit premeditated murder”. I did not see any mention of her leaving the apartment to get a knife, enlighten us please.
PREMEDITATED means that it was committed after planning or “lying in wait” for the victim, meaning it was planned, before hand. All that we the public know is what the prosecution has disclosed so far. So unless you were there then you have no clue.
The evidence spoke for itself and has nothing to do with anyone’s feelings. Do you really think the DPP is that foolish?
Sir, please take a seat, way in the back row, far away from a computer and where no-one has to hear nor read your ignorance.
I can tell that you also are carrying personal feelings and is very sympathetic to the young lady’s situation,maybe because you yourself was or probably still is in an abusive relationship and can’t get out,if that is the case maybe you should seek help from one of the above mentioned,anyways the DPP is mostly incompetent in their cases and she is mostly clouded by her personal feelings,(just like
You) but what common sense(which you
Obviously lack) tells me is that if she was
Being so badly abused that she had to take his life,then why isn’t the charge for murder being dropped to self defence instead of manslaughter,because if she didn’t plead to manslaughter she would be charged with murder,therefore this was not the case of her being abused but a case where she wanted to fight a man like a man and couldn’t handle it,so she premeditated on grabbing a knife and murdered the young man.
Please do some homework on Cayman’s judicial system before you talk about someone’s lack of common sense. Smh….
What do her family member’s actions have to do with her own actions pray tell?? In Ms. Watler’s case she most likely had a knife because most people who LIVE TOGETHER do have kitchens in their homes which contain guess what?! Knives. Come on people you cannot be this dumb!!!!!
“what I do know is that she left to go get a knife to commit premeditated murder and if she carried a knife on her person at all times then that alone should tell you what type of mentality she has”
You actually don’t know squat. You are assuming facts that are not in evidence
How do you know she left to get a knife?
How do you know it wasn’t him that had the knife and they had an altercation and he ended up getting stabbed?
How do you know that during the altercation, she perhaps was able to grab a knife from a table or counter to defend herself?
I just presented you with different plausible
Scenarios but you choose to say “you know she left to get a knife to commit premeditated murder”
Were you there? No. So you know fiddly.
“and if she was being beaten so badly by this young man why didn’t she just run away,no she decided to stay and provoke the situation more in which it lead her to take his life”
Clearly you have never been and have no idea what it is to be in an abusive relationship.
Everyone knows what others should do or what they would do if it were them. I say complete bollocks!
You don’t know what you will do until you are in it.
“He was a respectable young man. Who wouldn’t hit a woman.”
AND HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS EXACTLY?
I raise my son to be respectful and to not hit a woman either but it would be stupid of me to make such a bold claim that he would NEVER hit a woman. I hope he would not but I don’t know what circumstance could push him to do just that.
You just as clueless as the rest of us as to what happened that day in that apartment. I read nowhere that a third person (you) were there so maybe you need to be quiet.
It’s sad that he died but also sad that domestic violence was the cause. Say what you want but I dont think she meant to kill him. Some people grow tired of being abused and just strike back blindly in self defense.
This is why looking the other way to domestic violence does not work. Certainly this wasn’t their first fight and someone knew about the violence. Too many secrets on the rock.
Sounds like a woman who defended herself against her abuser who was trying to cause her great harm. He lost the battle, but this could have easily ended up the other way around. So many of us have been in her shoes. So many of us lucked out and got away from our abusers without serious harm falling on to either person. Others (like these two young people) were not so fortunate. May he RIP & may she find peace in her situation also. No one wins in these situations. No one. Also to Joe Public – Report domestic abuse when you see it. Had both families known how bad it was – I am sure they would have both worked their hardest to keep them apart.
Tragic…what a waste…looks like a woman will go to jail because a man raised his fists to her…no excuse, don’t do it.
I Personally think this could of all been avoided if the two had separated from the time death threats were being thrown at one another. AND if there was evidence that showed( the recorded video) She was threating to stab him up with a knife and automatic RESTRAINING ORDER Should of been Forced by the RCIPS or The Court House that the two stay away from each other… But once again this is Cayman im not surprised.
I believe you are referring to the comment of 26/2 at 11:34 pm, correct?
Otherwise this could imply that this relates to the current story and in that case is incorrect.
Please clarify.
Sometimes domestic violence can cause this , and other times it can be just pure stupidity and jealousy. I can atest to the jealousy and stupidity , I wouldn’t be here if I had went to sleep after I walked away from x wife to avoid getting violent with her , but sure didn’t after I seen her coming to ward me with the biggest and sharpest kitchen knife in the house .
Been there too.