Yuri Nicholas has been sentenced to eight years in prison for the May 3rd, 2019 unlawful killing of Elton Leonard at Karasabai Village, Rupununi, Region 9.
His sentence was handed down yesterday morning at the High Court in Georgetown by Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry who ordered that deductions be made for the time the offender would have spent on remand.
Nicholas who had originally been indicted for murder, pleaded to the lesser offence of manslaughter at his arraignment last month.
Nicholas had provided investigators with a caution statement, detailing his involvement in the conmission of the offence.
Prosecutors had told the court that Leonard and the accused were known to each other, but were not friemds and the latter had told police that whenever Leonard consumed alcohol, he would verbally abuse him.
According to the statement of agreed facts presented to the court, Nicholas said that on the day in question he was drinking with friends when he saw Leonard who started cursing at them.
At that point, Nicholas said he decided that he was going to fight Leonard; and so after drinking some more, he encouraged his friends to fight Leonard.
The men all agreed with the plot and they called Leonard out, and started fighting him.
According to the statement, the men realized that they were no match for the “stronger” Leonard.
As a result, one from the group identified by the name “Bruce,” whippped out a knife with which he stabbed Leonard to the left side of his chest.
As the mortally wounded man fell to the ground, they continued their beating, stomping him on his head and abdomen.
Following an autopsy, the cause of death was given as perforation of the heart due to a stab wound.
The State’s case had been led by prosecutor Caressa Henry Nicholas; while Nicholas was represented by defence attorney Teriq Mohamed.
