Ex-policeman Waliaferro Joseph who was found guilty of attempting to murder his former lover, Uneatha McLean, at her Number 50 Village, Corentyne home, six years ago was yesterday sentenced to ten years in jail by Justice Brassington Reynolds.
“It seems like violence is taking over. The sensible thing you should have done was to walk away. The jury did not believe your story. You premediated to do what you did. It was a deadly attack on a defenceless woman,” Justice Reynolds told Joseph yesterday during sentencing.
“Fortunately, the woman is strong (but) it could have been a different story. Let that be your guide. Desist from the attempt to commit yourself,” the judge warned.
“It was a clear intention that you intended to do away with the victim. I have considered your age [43 years], your three children and your grandson, your offer of compensation, your plea of mitigation, your request to work and offer compensation, your intention to pay your taxes. However, after listening to your probation report, not much was said good of you. The report is a sad tale. A bad time for spousal abuse in Guyana. A worst scourge of modern day Guyana society. Of all the scourges, spousal abuse tops the list,” Justice Reynolds said.
“However, in sentencing you, I have chosen the midline between 10 to 15 years. I have deducted one and a half years for time spent in prison, a year for the plea in mitigation, and a further six months for the offer of compensation. The sentence is ten years imprisonment,” he concluded before thanking the jury for their service.
Earlier, Senior Probation and Welfare Officer Claudia Munroe had reported that Joseph continues to proclaim himself innocent of any wrongdoing against Mclean. Further, he claimed to have been attacked by four of Mclean’s male relatives and it was during a struggle, that she sustained her injuries.
The court was told that McLean met Joseph in 2007, when she sold fruits with her late aunt Gem Joseph at the Bourda market. Shortly after meeting him, they commenced a common law union and lived in Sophia. They bore no children but Joseph is the father of three children born of three different women, one of whom is deceased.
Intimidation
The court was told that as soon as the couple began to live together, the abuse began and Mclean experienced intimidation, verbal and physical abuse and presently has problems with her left ear, which Joseph once struck. The woman sought to escape but was followed by Joseph from Sophia to Corentyne. It was stated that he clearly had no intention of letting go of the relationship and during that period, Mclean feared for her life.
According to Munroe, Joseph’s denial of all the allegations as well as other opinions of him seems to suggest that he is self-deceived in claiming to be a Christian of good moral and ethical standing. Joseph’s mother Cheryl Williams had rejected the allegations against her son but admitted that she too was a victim of his arrogance for which she had to flog him when he was 21 years old.
Further, his ’squaddie,’ a sergeant of police, also claimed Joseph was hasty to other people while he was in the Force.
The probation officer told the court that she is of the opinion that Joseph is in need of behaviour modification and psychological assistance which would assist him to accept reality. She noted that despite being found guilty, Joseph still claimed that he was innocent and said it suggests a difficulty for efforts to reform him and it also conjures fears for McLean’s safety.
Just after his conviction last month, in addressing the court, Joseph, who had led his own defence, said the incident was as a result of his “hard earness,” as his mother had warned him to stay away from McLean and her family but he did not listen.
Nevertheless, he remained confident that God would see him through, “no matter what the consequences will be.”
State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings had presented four witnesses, who had revealed that the former couple had previously lived at Sophia, Greater Georgetown, but McLean fled to her home village to escape abuse she had suffered.
Joseph followed and lived briefly with the woman at her Corentyne home but there, again, the abuse resurfaced and the couple separated.
It was during the separation that McLean, on the evening of January 7, 2010, was attacked in her home.
She was about to prepare dinner when she felt a hand grab her throat, while another gagged her mouth. She was slammed to a wall. As she tried to free herself, she recognised Joseph, who then picked up a knife from a table nearby. Five incised wounds were inflicted on the woman before she escaped through some louvre panes at the front of the house.
She was rescued by police ranks, who took her to the Skeldon Public Hospital before she was transferred to the New Amsterdam Hospital, then to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where she was hospitalised for a number of days.
