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Victoria double-murder… ‘Picture Boy’ sentenced to death by hanging
Sentenced to death: Cyon Collier called ‘Picture Boy’
Two trials and hung jury verdicts after his initial appearance, Cyon Collier called ‘Picture Boy’ was yesterday sentenced to death by hanging for the crime he committed in 2006.
Collier has been convicted for the murder of brothers Ray Walcott called ‘Suga’, and Carl Andrews, called ‘Alo’. The incident took place at Victoria, East Coast Demerara.
According to reports, Collier rode up on a motorcycle and began chatting with a group of domino players in Victoria before pulling out a gun and shooting at them.
Walcott and Andrews sustained gunshot wounds, and succumbed as a result of the injuries.
During the previous trial, the jury failed to reach the verdict of a unanimous decision in relation to the crime. However after two hours and fifteen minutes yesterday, the mixed jury panel returned to the courtroom of Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and announced that they had found Collier guilty on both counts of murder.
Collier had pleaded his innocence from the inception of the trial. However, yesterday after he was found guilty, the former accused sought forgiveness from relatives of the deceased, some of whom were present at the hearing. Still, the convict noted his disbelief at the outcome.
Shortly after he responded to the verdict, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry handed down the sentence. Collier was subsequently taken away in the company of several police officers.
During the trial, Collier was represented by Attorney-at-law Lyndon Amsterdam.
Amsterdam had protested that the statements presented by State witnesses were flawed and filled with inconsistencies.
But State Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy insisted that the State had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. Hardy pointed out that the evidence was clear – in the case of Walcott, he had a gaping wound to his forehead matching the spent shells found nearby, which belonged to an AK-47. The Prosecutor also noted that Andrews was shot at least three times.
The Prosecution which consisted of Hardy and Narissa Leander called several witnesses to the stand, including eyewitnesses Magistrate Sherdell Isaacs, Quacy ‘Silver’ Stewart, Mohan Singh, and Sherwin Marshall.
Stewart testified that on the day of the shooting he saw when Collier approached the domino table carrying something on his back. He said that moments later shots were fired and the two brothers were lying nearby in pools of blood. Singh subsequently told the court that about the same time Collier had joined his minibus with an AK-47 strapped to his back.
Additionally, Magistrate Isaacs presented evidence which refuted Collier’s claims that he was not at the scene of the crime. The magistrate read into evidence the statement that Collier had provided to the Summary Court, in which he claimed that he borrowed a bicycle and rode home, which is near the scene of the crime. According to Isaacs, Collier said that he later found out about the murder of the two brothers and decided to leave his home in Victoria for Linden.
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Why are we still sentencing people to death if it will not be carried out? For quite some time no one has been executed (judicially) here in Guyana.