A jury has acquitted a Toronto woman on trial for the second-degree murder of a 41-year-old Caledon, Ont., woman whose body was found stuffed in a suitcase.
After less than a day of deliberating, the jury came back with the not guilty verdict on Tuesday, finding that Carita Jackson did not murder Varsha Gajula sometime between Aug. 21 and Aug. 23, 2021.
On the morning of Aug. 25, 2021, police received a call about a suspicious package located at the rear of a business near Keele Street and Rogers Road in Toronto. When officers opened the suitcase, they found Gajula’s body.
The cause of death: head and neck injuries, including blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds.
A video canvass led investigators back to 1010 Humber Boulevard South, less than two km from where the suitcase was found.
Video surveillance showed two tenants removing the suitcase two days earlier. They were later arrested and charged.
One of the men was acquitted. The other, Christopher Daley, the father of Jackson’s child, pled guilty to accessory after the fact to murder for his role in disposing of the body. Daley testified for the Crown at trial, pointing the finger at Jackson.
Daley told the jury Jackson, who lived one floor above him in the building, knocked on his door on Aug. 21, 2021. He testified she told him she had just killed “a girl.”
He said they then went up to her apartment where he saw a woman’s body wrapped in garbage bags and blood. Daley testified he and Jackson put the woman’s body in a suitcase and she told him to clean the apartment before she left and went to a downtown encampment.
During cross-examination, Jackson’s lawyer, Ashley Audet, repeatedly questioned Daley about whether he was lying about Jackson’s alleged confession.
Audet also pointed out that Daley has 50 prior convictions for drug trafficking.
Jackson’s lawyers, Audet and Katrina Friesen, spoke to Global News after the verdict and explained that a manslaughter conviction was not available to the jury.
“It was agreed given the specific facts and circumstances of this trial, it was agreed between the defence and the crowns that in light of the evidence, in particular from the pathologist with respect to the nature of the injuries suffered by Ms. Gajula that manslaughter was not properly available as a verdict. Ultimately that left the two options: either guilty of second-degree murder or not guilty,” said Audet.
Audet said in order for the jury to find Jackson guilty, they would have had to accept Daley’s evidence about her alleged confession.
“Ultimately, he was a very difficult witness. He has a very lengthy criminal record. But the biggest challenge, I think and what the jury ultimately accepted, was that he was the only witness pointing the finger at Ms. Jackson.
“The only direct evidence came from Mr. Daley and there were critical pieces of his evidence specifically with respect to the events surrounding her alleged confession that were not only inconsistent as between his various tellings of the story but critical pieces were also contradicted by other pieces of evidence,” Audet said.
“It was our position, ultimately, that it would be extremely difficult for a jury to find that in light of all of his inconsistencies, that in light of his admitted lies and willingness to lie to courts when it benefits him… how can you trust that this particular version he told the court was the truth,” added Audet, who said the verdict reflects that the jury accepted their argument.
Forty-one-year-old Jackson has been in custody since her arrest. Her defence team says the verdict is a vindication.
“She has maintained her innocence from the beginning. She was arrested on Aug. 30, 2021. That was over three-and-a-half years (ago) and she has waited for this day for a very long time,” said Audet.
Daley has already been sentenced after pleading guilty to accessory after the fact to murder.