‘GOD’ jailed for 13 years for killing man

Dec 14, 2013 News

Elroy Grenville, aka Rastaman’ 38, of Lot 8 Belladrum, West Coast Berbice, was on Thursday sentenced to 13 years in jail by Justice Dawn Gregory in the Berbice High Court.
He was on trial for murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Grenville was indicted for the murder of Brenthnol Reynolds, called ‘Brent’, 49, on June 9, 2007.
On Wednesday, he appeared before Justice Gregory and through his lawyer Attorney at law Joel Persid Edmond, indicated to the court that he wanted to take a certain course of action. In court, he pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
Following the presentations by both Prosecutor Renita Singh and defence attorney Edmond, Justice Gregory had postponed sentenced to Thursday because she wanted to have an opportunity to go through the file before passing sentence.
Before passing sentence; Justice Gregory stated that she was starting at 25 years, but will deduct six years for time spent and another six for pleading guilty, thus leaving a total of 13 years.
Earlier state prosecutor, Attorney at law Renita Singh in her opening address, had stated that on the day in question the accused, Grenville, and the deceased, Reynolds, had a verbal altercation on the Paradise Public Road, West Coast Berbice. This led to the accused giving the deceased a single chop to the neck, killing him.
She stated that the incident was witnessed by two persons -Claude Williams and Earl Mingo. She stated that Williams was related to the deceased and that he knew the accused since he was a child.
Williams had stated that around 16:00 hrs he was about eight feet from the two men and heard when the accused told the deceased, “Country man how you could say that I tie up you cow?”
He had further stated that there was no fight between the two. The accused had a cutlass in his hand while the deceased had a water bottle and a whip in his hand. He told the accused not to do anything stupid.
She said that Earl Mingo was coming towards where the men were and he saw when the accused take one step back and fired a chop to the neck of the deceased. The deceased was picked up and rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The accused was arrested on June 10, 2007 at Wismar.
The accused had given a caution statement in which he had stated that on the fateful morning “ah come to the Weldaad Police station and made a report. “
In his plea of mitigation defence attorney Edmond had pleaded that his client Grenville was in a common law relationship in which he was the sole breadwinner with two children aged 10 and 11 years to take care of. He had no prior record and was not the aggressor.
The attorney stated his client was known as ‘GOD’ since he was 15 years old, not by chance, but because he was a fair and good person. He has thrown himself at the mercy of the courts and has not wasted the court’s time. He has been incarcerated for more than 6 ½ years already and has faced five different magistrates, during which time he endured four preliminary inquiries.
The lawyer further stated that his client fired one chop and ran away. The deceased fire a chop at him first. It is the deceased who brought this on himself. He stated that his client is extremely remorseful and if he could turn back the hand of time the episode will not end this way.
A post mortem examination was performed on the deceased by Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan and gave the cause of death as shock and hemorrhage. There was a gaping incise wound to the neck.

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‘GOD’ jailed for 13 years for killing man

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