The wife of the UBS banker who is charged with manslaughter in Anguilla has broken her silence.
Kallie Hapgood, 44, gave her first interview since the April 13 incident in which her husband Scott Hapgood says he was attacked in front of their daughters by knife-weilding hotel worker Kenny Mitchel, 27.
The couple from Darien, Connecticut had been on their Caribbean dream vacation for less than 48 hours when the nightmare ordeal began, Kallie told the New York Post.
Kallie was just returning from morning snorkling when her 13-year-old came sprinting through the hotel lobby and screamed: ‘Dad’s been stabbed!’
‘I was so fearful that my husband had passed away,’ Kallie recalled. ‘I ran, and I was so thankful that he was alive.’
Kallie Hapgood, 44, is seen with her husband Scott and their three children. Kallie has spoken out in her first interview since her husband was involved in a violent incident in Anguilla
Malliouhana resort employee Kenny Mitchel (left) died on April 13 after he allegedly broke into the hotel room of UBS banker Scott Hapgood (right following the incident)
The family was staying at the upscale Malliouhana resort (pictured) when the incident occurred
According to Scott, Mitchel had barged into his hotel room with a knife, demanding money and threatening his two daughters. Scott fought back, but Mitchel did not survive the encounter — and an autopsy found that the hotel worker had twice the potentially lethal level of cocaine in his system.
Islanders, many of whom were friends with Mitchell, demanded that Scott be prosecuted, and he was charged with manslaughter. When Scott was granted bail and allowed to return to the U.S. pending trial, many locals accused him of ‘white privilege.’
Kallie revealed that her family had been tormented with death threats from Mitchel’s supporters on the island.
Once, she received a terrifying call at her office while Hapgood was in Anguilla for a hearing, prompting her to alert police in Darien.
‘There was a really scary laugh on the other end,’ she said. ‘Like a malicious laugh.’
Though his wife begged him not to return to the island, Scott returned for a court date in September (above) and vows he will clear his name in court
Scott Hapgood, a UBS financial advisor who is accused of killing a hotel worker while on vacation, speaks to reporters outside a courthouse in Anguilla in August
Kallie also said she has begged Scott not to return to the island for court dates, urging him to take his chances with being arrested in America.
‘I have begged him from day one not to go back there, and I still don’t want him to go back there, but he needs to make his own decisions, and he feels strongly about clearing his name,’ Kallie told the Post.
‘He knows he did nothing wrong. He’s not responsible for Mitchel’s death, but to me, I don’t know if that is enough to keep him safe. If he were to be remanded to prison, I think it would be the equivalent of a death sentence.’
Though Mitchel has strong support among locals in Anguilla, it emerged after his death that he was arrested and accused of raping the mother of his children, Emily Garlick, in March. Garlick later claimed it was a misunderstanding.
The reports about the rape accusation raised questions about why Mitchel was working at the upscale Malliouhana resort just weeks later.
Mitchel is seen left and right with the mother of his children, Emily Garlick. He was arrested and accused of raping Garlick in March, but she later claimed it was a misunderstanding
Mitchel’s death was initially listed as asphyxiation and blunt force trauma to the head, leading Hapgood to be charged with manslaughter.
But a revised report dated September 3, and obtained by The New York Times this week, claims that Mitchell may actually have died from a drug overdose.
‘Acute cocaine toxicity could have been a potentially independent cause of death in the known circumstances,’ it reads.
The UBS banker has been released on bond and is currently back at his home in the affluent town of Darien, Connecticut, which was last year named the wealthiest community in America.
The trial has been adjourned until November 11.