On Tuesday, Leroy Williams was sentenced to 15 years in prison after admitting that he was part of a group that beat and killed a 17-year-old miner at Konawaruk Backdam, Potaro, back in 2014.
Williams had initially been arraigned for murder but copped to the lesser offence of manslaughter, accepting that he and others had fatally beaten Azad Potter in the Essequibo Backdam on October 21, 2014.
The sentence was imposed by Justice Navindra Singh, who ordered that the prison service deduct the time Williams has spent on remand awaiting trial and also that he be considered for parole after serving three years.
Back in May, Dew Narine Umakant and Quncie King, who were involved in Potter’s fatal beating, were sentenced to 20 and 17 years respectively after also pleading to manslaughter.
The fourth person charged with the crime, Delroy Williams, brother of Leroy, died in prison before facing trial.
The prosecution’s case is that on the day in question the teenager was attacked by the four men, who relieved him of his cell phone and other valuables. Police had said Potter was beaten by a group of men who had accused him of stealing articles from their mining camp.
The state had said the deceased and the men, who were all known to each other, were walking through a trail when Potter stooped to the ground to remove part of a tree which was in their path.
The court had heard that it was at that point that the men attacked the young man, dealing him blows about his body and relieving him of a number of his belongings.
Potter, of Garden of Eden, East Bank Demerara, subsequently succumbed to his injuries.
Relatives had said that Potter had left for Konawaruk two weeks prior to his death to work with a man known to the family.
