An elderly man was yesterday sentenced to serve 12 and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the 2010 murder of his childhood friend.
Renwick Alexander, also called ‘Pompey,’ was charged with the murder of Carl Thomas, called ‘Daw,’ which occurred on November 30th, 2010 at John Street, Lodge.
Alexander was first tried for Thomas’ murder in 2014, when he appeared before Justice Navindra Singh, who sentenced him to a 56-year sentence after a jury found him guilty of the crime.
However, after a successful appeal with the assistance from attorney Nigel Hughes, both Alexander’s conviction and sentence were overturned and a retrial was ordered.
But instead of going through with a second trial, Alexander opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
His plea was accompanied by a tearful apology to Thomas’ daughter, who was present during yesterday’s proceedings.
“I am sorry for what took place with me and your father. I really sorry,” he said.
Having heard the apology, the woman also broke down in the courtroom.
Hughes, who represented Alexander yesterday, asked the court to consider, in mitigation, that the accused had been “exceedingly” remorseful, the time he spent on remand, and the fact that he was not only a model prisoner at the Mazaruni Prison, but was being used as an example for other prisoners. The attorney noted, too, that at the time of the incident, Alexander was 61-years-old and had an unblemished record, before reminding the court that Thomas died from a single stab wound inflicted by the accused as opposed to multiple wounds.
Meanwhile, Alexander’s plea was accepted by Justice Singh, who, in considering the new sentence, acknowledged the remorse expressed by Alexander in open court as well as his age and the fact that he was said to be a model prisoner.
Justice Singh also noted that from the sentence imposed, the prison authority is instructed to deduct the years Alexander would have spent on remand.
Throughout Alexander’s trial, the court had heard that the two men were like brothers as they had grown up together. However, Alexander was said to have fatally stabbed Thomas during an argument over missing clothes. Thomas later died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation while receiving medical attention for a single stab wound to his abdomen.
