Gladstone Williamson, who admitted that he slashed the throat of Gertrude Benn, resulting in her death at Ithaca Village, West Bank Berbice will be sentenced on February 22, following a probation report.
Williamson pleaded guilty to manslaughter before Justice Franklyn Holder at the Berbice Criminal Assizes last week. He also faces an additional two counts of attempted murder committed on the deceased’s daughter Kerry Felicia Edwards and her niece Samantha Charles. After stating his plea, Williamson asked the wounded and the relatives of the deceased to forgive him.
State Counsel Dionne McCammon told the court that Williamson shared a common law relationship with Benn at his house at Levi Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam. She said due to a misunderstanding the woman relocated with her children across the Berbice River at Ithaca Village, on the West Bank.
In her testimony, Kerry Edwards told the court that on May 7, 2009, at 2pm, she had spoken to Williamson via the telephone as he attempted to contact her mother, who told him that they were frying plantain chips and would be returning home on completion.
That night, between 10pm and 11pm, Edwards said she was awakened by someone squeezing her foot, and on opening her eyes, she saw Williamson leaning over her mother, cutting her neck. “I shook him, told him to get off my mother,” who had been bleeding from an injury to the neck.
Williamson then jumped onto another bed, where Charles had been sleeping and slashed her neck. Charles told the court that she recalled feeling a burning sensation and then saw blood flowing from her neck.
Another witness, Elwin Anthony told the court that he was awakened by a strange noise at his door at about 15 minutes past midnight on the morning of May 8, 2009. He said he looked out and saw Benn, his neighbour, drenched in blood and holding her throat. He said he wrapped the wound with a sheet before calling the police.
Police transported the three women to the New Amsterdam Hospital, where Benn was pronounced dead on arrival.
Edwards and Charles were in-patients at the facility for a week.
An autopsy report, prepared by Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan stated that Benn died from shock and haemorrhage from an incised wound to the neck.
Meanwhile, in his caution statement, Williamson said he slashed Benn’s throat following a heated argument with her about returning home. He said they argued about money and the children. His attorney, Charrandas Persaud, in a mitigation plea, asked the court to exercise leniency as his client has expressed remorse. He told the court that his client’s one wish is to spend time with his children: a boy and a girl now six and eight-years-old. “Williamson has thrown himself at the mercy of the court, he has saved judicial time, manpower and cost. While there is no compensation for the loss of a life, he wished sincerely that none of this had happened. In a fit of anger a wonderful life was lost, while a few others including himself and children have plunged into misery and turmoil,” Persaud said.
