A deaf-mute carpenter yesterday appeared in court charged with the murder of minibus conductor Godfrey Hoyte at the Stabroek Market Square.
Sherwin De Younge called ‘Troy’ was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder which read that on June 20 he murdered Godfrey Hoyte in Georgetown.
De Younge, 32, of 112 South Ruimveldt had with him Pastor Lawrence Hallahan of the Guyana Deaf Mission Church communicating for him in sign language while he was in court.
Through the pastor, De Younge told the court that on the day in question he and two other deaf persons went to the market after he had gotten off work. He said that Hoyte, reached out to him and pulled him over and started to taunt him along with two other persons.
Hoyte, the man continued, then attacked him with a broken beer bottle and stabbed him on his elbow and upper left thigh.
The man said that he tried to defend himself with his fists when one of his deaf friends pulled a knife and handed it to him.
That is when he stabbed the man. He was arrested immediately by the police, he said.
No relative of the deceased was present in court yesterday. De Younge meanwhile was remanded and is to return to Court 10 on July 22.
This newspaper had reported that 41-year-old Hoyte was stabbed to death just after midnight following an argument.