Terrence Madray, who clubbed his bedridden mother with a piece of wood, resulting in her death, was yesterday sentenced to 21 years in prison after admitting to the crime.
Madray, 57, called ‘Terry,’ admitted before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow that on April 21st, 2016, at Lot 2 Good Faith, Mahaicony, he killed Cecilia Madray called ‘Suzy’. Although charged with murder, the man pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
According to State Counsel Sarah Martin, the accused lived with his mother at the time and was her primary caregiver as she was injured and left bedridden following an accident.
Martin, during final submissions to the court, stated that on April 18th, 2016, one of the witnesses in the matter noted that they would have heard the accused cursing at his mother and subsequently saw the accused go to the top flat of the home where she was at the time and then heard tramping upstairs followed by groaning sounds made by the now deceased woman.
Another witness stated that when he went to the home, he saw the deceased wrapped up in “netting” in her bedroom on the same date.
Martin noted that the accused would have confessed to the killing in his caution statement. He said he lashed his mother in her head with a piece of wood, which caused her to blackout. He then daubed water on her head in a bid to revive her and subsequently gave her a bath and also gave her food, which she did not eat.
In the statement he also indicated that before he hit his mother with the piece of wood, he drank rum and smoked marijuana. He said that his mother would have told him something, which led to him hitting her in the head.
A call was further made to a community policing group in Mahaicony, which caused another witness on April 21st to go to the home, where he observed the deceased’s motionless body. She was also bleeding from the ear at the time, causing the witness to question the accused. He responded by saying that his mother was “okay” and “sleeping”. This witness then arrested the man.
The following day at the Mahaicony Police Station, the accused gave an oral statement which contained similar details to that of his caution statement.
According to Martin, a post-mortem report noted that the elder Madray died from a subdural haematoma as a result of blunt trauma to the head.
Madray’s attorney, Mark Conway, in a plea of mitigation, stated that as much as it was a senseless killing, he asked the court to look closer at the contents of the caution statement, which revealed that his client was remorseful. The attorney noted that he had only hit her with a piece of wood following the use of rum and marijuana.
Conway further said that the statement also showed that the accused loved his mother and noted that following the act he showed remorse and took care of her. He added that his client has thrown himself at the mercy of the court and during the time that his client spent on remand he attended regular church services and used his experience as a carpenter and mason to do maintenance works while in the prison.
When asked by the judge if he had anything to say before a sentence was handed down, an emotional Madray said that he loved his mother and that it was just a little incident that happened after he drank the alcohol.
Justice Barlow considered that at the time his mother was bedridden and could not do anything to defend herself as she was left in his care. The judge further noted that while he tried to care for her after the incident and provide her with a meal, it was too late as the damage had already been done. After assessment, she stated that whether drunk or sober one must be aware of what they are doing and while the use of alcohol and drugs was used as a basis to accept the plea to be reduced from murder to manslaughter, it cannot be used as an excuse.
The sentence started at 26 years and five years were deducted by the judge given the circumstances in his favour. She added that the prison will then have to deduct the time that he would have spent in custody awaiting trial. Justice Barlow further ordered that Madray be exposed to anger management and any other programmes for persons who have been known to consume alcohol or drugs.
