Please join us and Fri’s family outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London at 9.30am on 3rd December to show your support for Fri.

On June 9th 2015 Farieissia Martin, at the age of 22, was convicted of the murder of Kyle Farrell, her violent partner. The trial was two weeks long and the jury were out for one and a half hours returning a unanimous verdict. Farieissia was given a tariff of 13 years.

At the time of the incident, Farieissia and Kyle had 2 children under the age of 3.

Kyle and Farieissia had known each other since primary school and had been together from the ages of 16. Kyle had been sent to anger management sessions at Primary school.  A year into the relationship Kyle started to be violent to Farieissia. The relationship was off and on with a pattern of violence, splitting up and reconciling.  Kyle’s violence often left Farieissia in fear of her life. Farieissia did not call the police for fear that social services would become involved and remove the children

On the night of the incident, Farieissia had been out and Kyle was babysitting. On her return he attacked her including trying to strangle her. In order to defend herself and in fear of her life, Farieissia reached for anything to help stop him. Kyle died as a result of a single stab wound to the heart.

When Farieissia was arrested, she initially lied about the events of the evening, for fear of the children being left alone without either of their parents.

During the trial the history of violence was not explored and a mental health assessment was not carried out. These two issues form part of the grounds for appealing the sentence and conviction. Fri’s application to appeal was turned down by the single judge earlier this year. A panel of three judges will hear Farieissia Martin’s renewed application to appeal her conviction on the morning of 3rd December.