Four years after he brutally raped, murdered and dumped Leonard Archibald’s body in the Berbice River, Hillary Edwards was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.
Edwards, 32, of Sisters Village, East Bank Ber-bice, was charged in September, 2017, with the murder of 13-year-old Archibald. In late January, after a trial at the High Court in Berbice, Edwards was found guilty of the murder.
On September 17, 2017, Archibald, of Lot 11 Brothers Village, East Bank Berbice, disappeared after he left home to pick up two of his sisters from a birthday party in a nearby village. He was last seen riding a bicycle on the Sisters Village Public Road.
After a police report was filed, investigators placed two men from Sisters Village in custody: the prime suspect, Edwards, and his friend, Christopher, at whose house Edwards would usually hang out, and which is located just four houses away from the Sisters Police Station.
During a subsequent search, the missing teen’s bicycle was discovered in the Berbice River behind Christopher’s house.
Later on, police investigators elicited a confession from one of the accused. Police were told that Edwards kidnapped the teen and raped him, after which he dumped the unconscious boy into the Berbice River.
After the alleged confession became public knowledge, relatives of the boy and residents of the East Bank Berbice area were determined to recover the child’s body.
Archibald’s decomposed body was found on a mudflat located aback of Kortberaad Village, in the Berbice River, some three miles from Brothers Village, East Bank Ber-bice, where the teen lived.
An autopsy was per-formed on Archibald’s decomposed body, how-ever, the results were inconclusive.
Probation report
Before sentencing yes-terday, a probation report was presented which referred to several com-plaints to the police about sexual misconduct.
The accused claimed to the probation officer, that he left his parents’ home to reside with his friend because of an altercation between him and his father. However, residents refuted this and said that he was removed from the family home after he slapped his mother when she inter-vened in a family matter.
According to the pro-bation report, the accused’s parents claimed to have no knowledge about his actions and also claimed that residents had never reported any matter of a similar nature to them.
However, residents in the Sisters and Brothers villages on the East Bank Berbice said that the parents are living in denial about the reports against the accused, a father of one, of his behaviour towards children between ages 5 -16.
“Residents have reiterated that they have failed to address same as the accused’s negative behaviour has worsened and continued for a protracted period which has resulted in Hillary Edwards being uncon-trollable and deemed as a menace and pedophile in the community in which he resided,” the report noted.
Further, the probation officer said that infor-mation garnered from police officers at the Sis-ters and New Amsterdam police stations revealed that they had received reports of sexual assault and threatening behaviour allegedly perpetrating by the accused towards 5- and 16-year-old males.
According to the pro-bation officer, this was confirmed in the occurren-ce book at the Sisters Police Station on the 13th and 16th of July, 2015, two years before Archibald was murdered.
The report noted, that the reported incidents were referred to the New Amsterdam Police Station for “their intervention and necessary action.”
However, “efforts made by the police officers to [apprehend] the accused at that time proved futile as the accused left the Sisters community and his whereabouts were unknown to residents.”
The report noted, that two males on different occasions also shared their experiences with the accused while they were aged 14 and 15.
According to one, the accused had misled and lured him to accompany him (accused) in a search for one of the teenage boys’ brothers at Friends Back dam, East Bank Berbice, after which the teenaged boy stated that the accused bullied and threatened him with a cutlass and knife “stating that they must have sexual intercourse.”
The boy told the probation officer (and had previously told Stabroek News) that he asked the accused to bring his bicycle which was left on the public road as a ploy to distract the accused and made good his escape to the neighbouring village where he was rescued by residents.
A report was made at Sisters Police Station, the probation report confirmed, and the matter was referred to the CID Department at the New Amsterdam Police Station.
However, no action was taken after the accused disappeared, as he would normally do, for some time.
The other teenage boy stated that he was 14 years old when the accused requested that they catch fish at Sisters back dam but after they arrived in the area, “the accused aggressively bullied him to have sexual intercourse to which the boy objected.”
The teenage boy related that he was severely beaten with a piece of wood and cuffed to his jaw and ribs which resulted in him losing consciousness and after coming to, he realised that he was strung up with a piece of rope to a tree branch.
The report added, “The teenage boy also observed that accused was not present in the vicinity, while he [the boy] prayed to God. Shortly after, the limb of the said tree broke after a heavy wind blew and he fell to the ground where he managed to untie the knot of the rope and hid himself in the bush.”
He then saw the accused approaching the area and hid when he heard the accused shouting “You bitch, you lucky. I woulda kill you and bury you today… You damn lucky.”
According to the report, the young victim hid in the bushes until the wee hours of the morning and then returned to his parents’ home whereupon he was rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he was admitted.
He suffered a broken jaw and broken ribs.
The report also pointed out that the accused showed no remorse and denied any involvement in the murder, claiming that he had no reason to kill Archibald, and that he was related to him.
Orin Archibald, who gave a victim impact statement on behalf of the deceased’s family said he was pleased the matter was before the court.
He said that he, the family, and community felt confused and hurt about the entire incident. “The family will be very thankful for whatsoever be done here,” the visibly emotional man said.
Edwards before being sentenced, said, “Ma’am I just want to say the reason why I do not say anything the last day we meet was because I was shocked that the jury found me guilty when I knew to myself I am an innocent man who did not commit the crime that I was being sentenced for now.”
He continued, “I must address the court with respect, I am begging you to have some lenience on my sentencing and I must give the family of Leonard Archibald respect and I am sorry for what I hear happen to their son they found him dead but I am innocent to the crime.”
Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy then submitted that the probation report was not challenged, which detailed multiple reports of sexual assault which were reported to the Sisters Police Station.
She said the situations are similar to the case of Archibald which includes the accused luring boys and bullying them for sexual intercourse and making sexual advances.
Hardy pointed out that the case is clear and Edwards graduated to murder after not being held accountable for previously reported misdeeds.
She added that he is not someone who should be sent back to the village anytime soon.
As such, she asked that a sentence be imposed which will reflect the nature and gravity of the offence and the fact that it occurred on a young person at the hands of somebody who was supposed to be a relative.
Sentenced to life
Justice Morris-Ramlall before giving her sentence, stated, that she considered the nature and the circumstances of the crime. She said, the offence was murder on a relative of the accused who was a mere 13-year-old.
“His life was snuffed out in the most sadistic manner having been sodomized to the point of unconsciousness after which his lifeless body was dumped in the Berbice River”, she said
She added that she also considered the impact the offence has had on relatives of the deceased and the lack of remorse on the part of the accused.
“The offender seeks mercy from this court but showed none to his cousin, the deceased. In all of the circumstances of this case I find that a life sentence is appropriate. I therefore impose a life sentence on the offender. He is to serve a minimum of twenty seven years before becoming eligible for parole,” she stated.
She also ordered that the accused receive counselling on a quarterly basis during the period of his incarceration. “That is the sentence of the court,” she declared.
