Alfred Campbell, the man who fatally shot his stepson six years ago, was yesterday sentenced to six years imprisonment by Justice Brassington Reynolds.
Campbell, called Sobers, 69, fatally shot his stepson, Travis Cleon Fraser, while the 20-year-old was asleep at his Liverpool Village home on the Corentyne Coast on January 22, 2004. Campbell, a father of 25, who will be celebrating his 70th birthday on October 19th, remained expressionless as the custodial penalty was imposed at the Berbice Assizes yesterday morning.
Campbell was previously sentenced to death but had appealed the conviction and a retrial was ordered by the Appeal Court. Following an aborted trial on July 21, due to the fact that a juror was criminally charged, another trial was ordered during which Campbell “threw in the towel” and pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. The plea was accepted by State Counsel Dionne Mc Cammon and sentencing was set for yesterday.
Campbell’s state-appointed Attorney, Charrandass Persaud, in a mitigation plea, said his client did not have a violent lifestyle. “Fourteen years Your Honour, my client lived with Pamela Fraser; the mother of the deceased. He fathered four of her seven children, but treated all like his own. It’s unfortunate that he took the life of her son, but I plead for leniency….He is totally a transformed man, he is God fearing, and has expressed remorse over the incident,” said the attorney.
However, Probation and Welfare Officer Mitford Ward in a report related that Campbell lived a life of excessiveness and recklessness. Even though he earned approximately $80,000 weekly as a dragline operator which would have afforded him to live a comfortable life, his present circumstances are very much the contrary, thus creating the financial conflicts that haunted his relationships, Ward said.
According to the officer, Campbell’s alcohol dependence and frustration seem to have made him very vulnerable to the evil force upon which he blamed his behaviour. With respect to Campbell’s attitude towards the offence, it was noted that he had expressed remorse for the act, which could have been dealt with more appropriately. However, Campbell related that he was overwhelmed by the evil force which caused him to commit the act.
According to the probation report, prior to his incarceration, Campbell cohabitated with two women, Fraser and the now-deceased Ann Corlette in separate homes in Liverpool.
He had married in 1970 producing four children in this union but confessed that the marriage did not survive due to his unfaithfulness. In 1976, Campbell left his job at the Guyana Sugar Corpora-tion (GuySuCo) and migrated to Suriname where he spent eight years working as a dragline operator. Upon returning to Guyana in 1984, he continued doing the same job with various private contractors before being recalled by GuySuCo, where he was reinstated.
However, following an accident in 2002 he was forced to retire from his job, having been deemed medically unfit. His incapacitation was brief and he begun working with private contractors again.
During that period a visiting relationship was established with Fraser and he fathered four children. At the same time he was engaged in a relationship with Corlette.
Ward said that information pertaining to Campbell’s character is conflicting as while he is considered by some persons as liberal, hard working and “would not trouble any one who do not trouble him”, others described him as a “bully”.
State Prosecutor Mc Cammon had related that Scott was asleep at his mother’s home at Liverpool when Campbell, armed with a gun, fired a fatal shot to the defenseless lad’s chest.
Justice Reynolds, addressing the convict said, “I have considered all uttered by your lawyer and the information passed to the court by the Probation Officer, Mr. Mitford Ward. I am to say however, notwithstanding you clearly in your midlife became a victim of several indiscretions…”
“A father of 25, I do not know how much example you have set for your offspring. Having considered your advanced age, state of contrition, your remorse, the six and a half years you have spent incarcerated, an earlier trial, an aborted one, you shall serve six years,” the Judge said.
Previously, Campbell was found guilty during a jury trial before Justice Winston Patterson and was sentenced to death but he appealed the conviction and a retrial was ordered by the Appeal Court.
