Archive for the ‘Kellie Telesford’ tag
I'd like to pass along a few words from Monica Roberts
This statement shows some white privilege:
He’s called her client because she was a sex worker the Bewilderness.
Kellie worked at a beauty salon:
Hyatt had met Miss Telesford outside the beauty salon in London Road, Norbury, where she worked just hours before she was killed on November 17, last year.
I get so sick of hearing the ‘Black transwomen are hookers’ shade. Every time one of my transsisters gets killed, in just about every story I read, the assumption is made that they are either hookers or if they had a prior arrest for it, it’s played up in the story.
After I heard about this comment, I looked everywhere for any hint of a rumor of the sliver of a chance that someone had said that Kellie was a sex worker, and . . . no news source discussed such a thing. Every story describes Kellie and Hyatt going on a date. And even if I did find such a story, that would not actually be evidence that she was a prostitute. The news reported that Duanna Johnson was charged with prostitution upon her arrest and beating. I found exactly what I had expected, since I’ve been following the story of Kellie’s murder since it first broke late last year, and I had no memory of seeing reference to her as a sex worker.
This quote here?
Mr Hyatt’s barrister Joanna Greenberg QC suggested that Ms Telesford died during a sex game with another man after her client had left.
It’s referring to the fact that Shanniel Hyatt is Joanna Greenberg’s client. Because she’s his barrister.
I do, however, believe you are correct that Kellie’s race and trans status played into the final verdict. Sexuality is often used to condemn women of color as well as trans women. As well as cis women.
But that’s really no reason to resort to the stereotype that trans women of color are sex workers.
Edit: Also, no one blogged about Kellie Telesford before August 15th?
Why Aren't We Posting About Kellie Telesford?
Caroline answers this hypothetical question with characteristic aplomb:
My answer? I hadn’t noticed no one was blogging about her. I thought that the following all had:
Part of me can’t help but wonder if the real question is, “Why won’t those people ignore all my hate speech and give me a cookie for posting on their pet issue?”
I’m also wondering who, exactly, is uttering the word “transphobic” with every other line?
breathingistransphobic.wordpress.com
imeatingblueberriesthereforeimtransphobic.wordpress.com
Those are real blogs. And when you read them, that’s not really belledame responding.
A part of me cannot also help but wonder why, if calling out these trans-hating radical feminists is a waste of time, why wallowing in all this trans hatred is not itself a waste of time for all these trans-hating radical feminists?
Edit: ;Because I obviously started caring about Kellie on August 15th.
That’s sarcasm, by the way.
Kellie Telesford's Killer Goes Free
The story is here. Trans panic isn’t what saved the killer this time, but the successful defense was based on assassinating Kellie’s character, painting her as some kind of sexual deviant who got off on life-threatening sex games, and this was just one such game gone wrong.
Kellie Telesford worked as a florist and a beautician
A teenager has been cleared of killing a transsexual woman found strangled in her south London home.
Shanniel Hyatt, 18, denied that he killed Kellie Telesford in a rage after discovering she was a pre-operative transgender female who was born a man.
Her body was found after they engaged in sexual activity at her Thornton Heath flat, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Hyatt, from Norbury, south London, was found not guilty of murder and an alternative count of manslaughter.
Evening date
The teenager, a father-of-one whose girlfriend was away at the time of the incident, admitted meeting Ms Telesford for a date and going back to her flat.
He was filmed on CCTV leaving Ms Telesford’s home in the early hours of 18 November last year, using her Oyster travel card to board a bus.
Ms Telesford, who worked as a florist and beautician, was found dead at the flat three days later. She had been strangled with a scarf.
Prosecutor Sally O’Neill told the court that Mr Hyatt stole Ms Telesford’s mobile phone and electronic equipment as well as her Oyster card.
The worst part:
‘Cheap thief’
Defending, Joanna Greenberg said Mr Hyatt was a “cheap and nasty thief” but that Ms Telesford was “fit and well” when he left her flat.
She suggested that Ms Telesford may have died during a consensual sex game which went wrong, or that she may have inflicted her fatal injuries herself.
Mr Hyatt said he only realised Ms Telesford was born a man shortly before police interviewed him.
Ms Greenberg said there were no signs that Ms Telesford fought Mr Hyatt, even though she had “a man’s strength”.
Mr Hyatt was remanded in custody on separate immigration matters.
“Ms Telesford may have died during a consensual sex game which went wrong, or that she may have inflicted her fatal injuries herself.” . As Helen G points out (having more information than I do about the trial),
ETA: I can’t figure out where this leaves us with regards to knowing how Kellie Telesford died.
Earlier in the trial, the defence barrister wanted us to believe that Kellie died while playing “kinky sex games” – so, what now? – on her own, after Hyatt had left, taking with him her cellphone and travelcard?
And did she strangle herself before or after she covered her body in the white blanket? – Remember that “the scarf was tied so tightly around her neck [the paramedics] could only get the tips of their fingers inside“…
And what of the “potentially partial DNA evidence” on the scarf that may have come from three or even four people?
Later edit: The more I think about this, the more I…
I mean, they even had the guy on CCTV, leaving her flat, using her Oystercard – and he’s not even guilty of identity theft?
Perhaps we should remember that “Mr Hyatt was remanded in custody on separate immigration matters“. Oh right, yes. That’ll help…
Three days Kellie Telesford lay dead on the floor of her flat.
Three frickin days...
…If you call that ‘justice’…
So, this guy is seen leaving Kellie’s flat, steals her Oystercard, steals other items belonging to her. He is the last person to see her alive, but he goes free because his defense successfully introduced the victim-blaming “she probably died during a sex game gone wrong,” and insisted that Kellie was into kinky sex games. She also suggested that since Kellie was born male, she “had a man’s strength,” even though years on estrogen does affect muscle mass.
So, I realize this is another variation on the “It was her fault” victim-blaming lie. “If she hadn’t worn those clothes, she wouldn’t have been raped,” or “if she hadn’t lied about her genitalia, he wouldn’t have killed her.” Or, “if she hadn’t been playing those immoral kinky sex games, they wouldn’t have killed her.”
I can’t help but think that this has something to do with the idea that trans women are sexually obsessed fetishists, that just being who we are is enough to claim we’re interested in dangerous sex games.
Queen Emily at Sexual Ambiguities and Emily at The Partial Muse also have posts up.
More on Kellie Telesford
Helen G has the update at Bird of Paradox.
The defense barrister has switched from proposing that kinky sex was a possibility to asserting outright that Kellie practiced kinky sex, and trying to push for an interpretation of her death as erotic asphyxiation:
She said: “People do indulge in acts of asphyxiation either auto or with a partner.
“It’s relatively unusual. They do it because it results in heightened sexual pleasure.
“There’s no way of knowing how common the practice is because you only ever come across it when someone dies from it.
“To put it bluntly, she was someone who indulged in kinky sex.
“Her dressing gown showed signs of perhaps quite vigorous sexual activity.
“It does not exclude the possibility that the strangulation was either self-inflicted or was part of a consensual act with a partner.”
Like Helen, I wonder how she knows this. Of course, it’s another example of “defend the criminal by discrediting the victim.”
Update on Kellie Telesford
h/t Helen G
Awhile back, I posted about Kellie Telesford’s murder. The trial is currently underway, and the primary suspect denies he killed her and denies that he knew about her trans history. Possible triggers:
Teenager denies killing transgender woman
A south London teenager has denied killing a woman with whom he claims to have become intimate, unaware she was born a man.
Shanniel Hyatt said he only found out the truth about Kellie Telesford’s gender when police arrested him for her murder.
Hyatt, 18, of Norbury, claims that Ms Telesford, 39, a pre-operative transgender female who lived her life as a woman, was “fit and well” when he left her flat in the early hours of November 18 last year, the Old Bailey was told.
He said he met up with Ms Telesford, a florist and beautician, and had gone to her flat for a drink and to watch DVDs. Hyatt also claims Ms Telesford performed a sex act on him.
She was found dead on November 21, having been strangled with a soft brown fur scarf. Police, alerted by Ms Telesford’s friends worried because they could not contact her, broke into her locked home in Thornton Heath.
Her body was on the floor with only her feet and right hand poking out from a “carefully” draped white throw, prosecutor Sally O’Neill said. The flat “showed signs of disturbance”, appearing to have been searched and items stolen.
CCTV images and mobile telephone records show Hyatt used Ms Telesford’s Oyster card to catch the bus from her home. He was carrying a “big bag, probably containing other items that he had stolen”, according to Ms O’Neill.
When Hyatt was arrested he told police he did not kill Ms Telesford and had not even been aware that she was biologically male at the time.
Hyatt insisted Ms Telesford was alive when he left her flat although he changed the time he first told the officers he had left, the court heard.
Charming. “The truth about her gender.” Because trans women are lying liars who deceive men by not admitting that we’re really men, right?
Then there’s this bit at the end:
The jury was told that Ms Telesford’s death may not have been murder. Joanna Greenberg QC, defending, suggested the jury may need to consider whether Ms Telesford died during a sex game gone wrong as part of a consensual act, or that she may have inflicted the injury herself.
You can’t strangle yourself without setting things up so you can’t get out of it. It doesn’t sound remotely possible that Kellie accidentally strangled herself.
It also doesn’t sound like she was strangled as part of a consensual sex act. But it isn’t like no one’s ever advanced the idea that trans women – especially trans women of color – are sexually insatiable.
And for that extra helping of transmisogyny:
Joanna Greenberg, defending, said the jury would need to consider whether Ms Telesford died during a sex game which went wrong as part of a consensual act, or that she may have inflicted the injury herself.
Ms Greenberg also noted there were no signs that Ms Telesford had fought back.
She said: “While we are referring to her as a female out of courtesy because that is how she wanted to be known. She was nevertheless a male with a man’s strength and you would have thought that she, as a victim, would have fought her attacker but there was no signs.”
I want to say “years on hormones give trans women the relative strength of a cis woman,” but the whole point here is to paint Kellie as a man who submitted to dangerous sex games gone wrong, and the whole point of denying her identity is to also deny that she was murdered against her will.
I’m so disgusted right now. Just like any other instance in which a woman is the victim, her reputation, motivations, and morals have to be thoroughly discredited to prove that her attacker didn’t do anything so bad as murder her.
Police Investigate Suspicious Death of Trans Woman
23rd November 2007 13:45
Steve LengA forty-year-old trans woman has been found dead at her home in south-east London, according to reports.Kayiode Dexter Telesford, who had been living for several years under the name of Kellie Telesford, died of strangulation at her home on Leander Road in Thornton Heath.
The police are treating the death as suspicious, and have asked anyone who saw Telesford between the 15th and 21st of November to contact them immediately.
One neighbour told thisislocallondon.co.uk “There’s been a lot of police activity round here. I can’t believe something like that has happened.
“I heard the police breaking in through the door the other day but I didn’t know why. Now I’ve heard what’s happened, it’s made me feel very uneasy.” he added.
Anyone with information should call 020 8721 4205 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
All of the news stories reference her birth name even though she hasn’t lived by that name for a very long time. What disappoints me about the above is that it’s from a GLBT news service.
Police found the transsexual’s body in Leander Road, Thornton Heath, on Wednesday evening, officers have revealed.
Detectives believe it is 40-year-old Kellie Telesford, who was formerly known as Kayiode Dexter Telesford.
The Metropolitan Police are treating the death as suspicious and want to speak to anyone who had sexual contact with the victim.
Why is her birth name relevant? why is she “the transsexual” instead of “the woman” or even “the transsexual woman?”
Erase her gender, erase her name. Make her into a nonperson who was possibly murdered because she tricked a man into having sex with her.
Also, “suspicous death?” She was strangled. Why are they unwilling to clearly state whether it’s homicide or suicide?