A Toronto jury has convicted Moka Dawkins of manslaughter but acquitted the sex worker of the more serious charge of second-degree murder.

After two days of deliberations, jurors returned to court Wednesday afternoon to deliver their verdict, rejecting Dawkins’ claim that she was acting in self-defence when she repeatedly stabbed Jamie Foster, 27, to death in his downtown apartment on Aug. 3, 2015.

The 28-year-old Dawkins, a transgender woman who was sworn in to court as Curtis Gordon Dawkins, bowed her head after the verdict but showed little emotion.

Dawkins testified she disarmed Foster and fought back after he attacked her and stabbed her in the face. Foster had a violent history and had recently paid Dawkins for sex.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Penman said she and Dawkins’ many supporters who filled the courtroom during the trial were disappointed with the verdict.

“We were fairly confident that this was a self-defence case and the jury would see it that way,” said Penman standing next to co-counsel Tania Bariteau.

Dawkins will have to decide whether to appeal, Penman said.

A sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 31. Penman said the defence position will be that the manslaughter verdict was based on “provocation.”

Jurors had three options: guilty as charged of second-degree murder, not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of manslaughter, and not guilty of any criminal offence.

During her closing arguments, Penman told the jury if they rejected the self-defence argument, they had the option of finding Dawkins guilty of manslaughter if they believed she was provoked after being suddenly stabbed in the face.

Manslaughter is killing someone without the intent to do so.

If Superior Court Justice Robert Clark decides the manslaughter verdict was based on provocation, the appropriate sentence would be time served, Penman said.

Read more:

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Dawkins has been in custody since her arrest hours after killing Foster. She has been housed in the all-male Toronto South Detention Centre, a choice she made rather than staying in segregation in a women’s facility, Penman said.

Crown attorney Lindsay Kromm, who prosecuted the case with Maeve Mungovan, said the sentencing range for manslaughter is “very broad” and prosecutors have not yet determined what they will recommend to Clark. The maximum sentence is life in prison.

At the outset of the case, the judge turned down a defence request to allow the jury to hear from a leading scholar in gender and transgender studies. Clark has not yet released his reasons.

Penman had asked Viviane Namaste, a professor at Concordia University in Quebec, to present an overview of the research into the high level of violence experienced by trans sex workers — as well as their response to it.

In a report prepared for the case, Namaste wrote that trans people’s identity as men or women is so strong “they will live in their chosen gender despite the inordinate amount of violence directed against them.”

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While trans sex workers will attempt to minimize violence — “in circumstances where that is not possible, they will use whatever means necessary, including physical force and a weapon, to fight back after they have been physically injured.”

Penman asked Dawkins on the witness stand about the violence she had experienced as a sex worker in Montreal and Toronto.

Dawkins testified about being beaten, kicked, punched and robbed, and described how she was assaulted by a prospective client during a vigil for another transgender sex worker who was murdered.