Death sentence for Pomeroon miner who murdered pensioner

Mar 01, 2019 News

A 43-year-old miner of Good Intent, Lower Pomeroon, was yesterday sentenced to death by Justice Sandil Kissoon, after he was found guilty by a 12-member jury, of the murder of 72-year old Osmond Fiedtkou.
Kenrick Lyte was charged in 2014 for the offence. The summary read that the incident took place at Groete Creek, Essequibo River between July 9 and 13, 2014. The court heard that Lyte owed Fiedtkou money and was not repaying same. Fiedtkou was angry with Lyte, which led to them arguing. While alone in a boat, however, Lyte shot the pensioner to the chest with a shotgun, which was in the boat, being driven by Fiedtkou. Lyte then threw away the gun and sank the boat in an attempt to cover up his crime.

Kenrick Lyte

During the trial, Lyte had maintained that he was innocent. Defence Counsel agreed that on the day in question, the two men were last seen together. He noted, however, that none of the witnesses provided evidence to prove that Lyte had had an argument with Fiedtkou and then shot him. He further claimed that none of the witnesses saw Lyte sink the boat and dump the shotgun that had been used to commit the murder.
The prosecution on the other hand urged the jury to rely on the circumstantial evidence of the crime when arriving at their verdict. It was argued that there was a motive to commit the act, since the Lyte owed Fiedtkou, and Lyte in his caution statement had alluded to the fact that he indeed had an argument with the pensioner.
The prosecution also pointed out that the defence had failed to establish that the act was committed in self-defence or by accident, since the post mortem examination had revealed an entire case of pellets in the victim’s chest, which suggested that he was shot at close range. The act was deemed as deliberate. The prosecution underscored that Lyte’s intentions were to kill and hide what he did, since he disposed of the shotgun and sank the boat.
After hearing from both the prosecution and defence, the jury went into deliberation for close to an hour before returning with a unanimous guilty verdict.
Justice Kissoon subsequently handed down the death sentence after pointing out that Lyte had “deprived a 72-year-old gentleman of his life”. He added, “Society cannot exist with persons such as yourself amongst humanity… you are therefore sentenced to death in a manner authorized by law”.

Discover more from Kaieteur News

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Latest News