Murder accused Narvin Sugrim Andrews, who was on remand for almost seven years at the New Amsterdam Prison, finally got his day in court this week and he was sentenced to 12 years in jail after pleading guilty to a lesser count of manslaughter.
The sentence was handed down on Tuesday by Justice Sandil Kissoon, who also instructed that the Director of Prison deduct the time that Andrews had spent as a prisoner on remand from the sentence.
Andrews had been on remand for six years and ten months.
He was charged with fatally stabbing of his neighbour, pensioner Hilton Ward of Lot 194 Rahaman Street, Number 78 Village, Corentyne.
State Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy had said that on March 27th, 2011, the accused entered Ward’s yard and they engaged in a heated argument over money. A scuffle ensued and Andrews stabbed Ward to his liver. On April 9th, 2011, Ward succumbed to his injuries while he was a patient at New Amsterdam Hospital.
Subsequently, government pathologist Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan conducted a post-mortem examination and recorded the cause of death as acute peritonitis, as a result of a stab wound to the liver.
Meanwhile, defence lawyer Sasha Roberts, in a plea of mitigation, informed the court that it was Andrews’ first offence. She also noted that he had accepted responsibility for the killing, for which he had shown remorse.
In handing down the sentence, the judge took into consideration the fact that the prisoner did not waste the court’s time, that he accepted the charge and that the death of the deceased was as a result of a single stab wound.
