Levi Stephens was yesterday morning sentenced to 12 years in jail for the unlawful killing of a man whom he said shot at him with a water gun.
Originally charged with the capital offence of murder, to which he pleaded not guilty, Stephens indicated, through his attorney, his intention of pleading to the lesser offence of manslaughter, which was accepted by the court.
He admitted that on March 16th, 2017 at Kumu Village, Central Rupununi, he unlawfully killed Arnold Gordon.
Presenting the facts of the case, Prosecutor Sarah Martin said that on the day in question, Gordon and his nephew had gone fishing and then went to Stephens’ home to see him. While there, the nephew observed Stephens hitting Gordon on his back with a piece of wood.
Martin said that the nephew brought
According to the prosecutor, on the following day they went in search of Gordon, whom they subsequently discovered was buried in a shallow grave in Stephens’ yard.
His body, Martin said, had an iron rod stuck in its right side under the armpit area, which punctured his liver.
She added that the findings of an autopsy revealed several lacerations to Gordon’s head, compounded by fractures and brain injury.
Saying that his client was sorry for what he had done, defence attorney Mark Conway asked the judge to consider that he had accepted responsibility for his actions at the first given opportunity.
This, he said, would have saved the court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
The lawyer also submitted that his client’s actions were a “spur of the moment” retaliation as opposed to having been in any way calculated.
On this point, he said that it was Gordon who had first advanced towards his client. Given a chance to speak, Stephens explained to the court that during an altercation, Gordon began shooting at him with a water gun and he retaliated.
For her part, however, Martin asked Justice Singh to impose a sentence which would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence, while noting that a strong message needed to be sent to society that the court would not simply condone persons acting out of passion.
Ordering that Stephens be enlisted in anger management and other rehabilitative programmes offered by the prison, Justice Navindra Singh sentenced him to 12 years in prison with a remission to be made by the prison authorities for time served.
The matter was heard at the High Court in Georgetown.
