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Feb 14, 2019 News
Faced with the likelihood of a heavy jail sentence for murder, a former Sophia, Greater Georgetown man, abruptly ended his trial yesterday by pleading guilty to the lesser offence manslaughter, over the beating to death of his elderly father.
Kumey Bourne, also known as Kwame Bourne, 39, opted to plead guilty when his trial entered its second day before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member mixed jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
He was later handed a 20 year-jail sentence for the crime, with orders by the court that the prison authorities deduct the time he spent in pre-trial custody.
State Prosecutors Tuanna Harding, Abigail Gibbs and Teriq Mohamed allowed the plea moments before the Judge was about to sum up the evidence, thereafter putting the case to the jurors for deliberation on a verdict.
Before he was escorted from the courtroom, Justice Singh advised Kumey to take advantage of remedial programmes offered by the prison service in order for him to be of meaningful contribution to society when he is released.
According to facts presented, Kumey lashed his father, Rickford Bourne, 72, several times with a metal pipe after coming home intoxicated. The injured man was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he succumbed days later.
During a plea in mitigation, Attorney-at-Law Maxwell McKay, told the court that his client is a father of two and has accepted responsibility for his actions.
On Tuesday, when the trial commenced, Police Lance Corporal Jason Beresford tendered into evidence the suspected murder weapon. The witness, who said that he was tasked with putting an allegation of murder to Kumey, said he found the weapon in the home.
Also testifying was Aisha, who said that her half-brother, Kumey, was unemployed at the time of her father’s demise. According to the woman, after hearing of the incident she ran into her father’s home where she saw him with three wounds.
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