A fisherman from Crab-wood Creek, Upper Coren-tyne was sentenced to 11 years in prison yesterday after he admitted to killing a friend some three years ago.
Stanley Mark Edwards pleaded guilty to man-slaughter when he appear-ed before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the High Court in Berbice on Thursday last.
Edwards admitted to fatally beating his friend, Sahadeo Sankar, 40, in January of 2018.
He was represented by attorney-at-law, Surihya Sabsook, while the state was represented by attorney-at-law, Tuanna Hardy.
Before sentencing yesterday, Justice Morris-Ramlall noted that the offence to which the accused pleaded guilty is a serious one in which a life was senselessly taken after an argument which commenced while he was consuming alcohol. She added that she considered that no weapon was used but the fact remains that the offender used his feet in a “merciless fashion stomping the deceased repeatedly in his face as he lay on the ground without retaliation.”
Justice Morris-Ramlall stated that she also examined the aggravating and mitigating circumstances of the offence.
In relation to the offender, she said she considered that he expressed remorse and he stated that he didn’t expect what happened to the deceased to have occurred, “but it begs the question as to what was expected to result from what he said he would have done, the repeated stomping on the deceased’s face until he stopped moving.”
She also noted that Sabsook had mentioned that the offender has two previous convictions for larceny and narcotics but stated, “… they would not be considered against the offender as they are not offences of a similar nature to the one for which he pleaded guilty.”
She also took into consideration that the accused confessed from the inception.
Justice Morris-Ramlall started the sentence at 21 years but deducted 7 years on account of the guilty plea and an additional three years for time served in remand. “In the end the offender is sentenced to 11 years imprisonment. That is the sentence of the court,” the judge declared.
Stabroek News had previously reported that the deceased, 40, and the accused were drinking at Crabwood Creek, Upper Corentyne, when they had an argument. The two had a scuffle and the deceased fell to the ground, after which the accused began stomping on his face.
The cause of death was given as multiple injuries sustained to the head and the accused was arrested at the scene and confessed to the crime.
