Weeping man to serve 21 years in jail for fatally beating bedridden mom

Oct 08, 2019 News

Confessing his undying love for his 76-year-old mother, Cecelia Madray, Terrence Madray was yesterday sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment after he admitted to beating the elderly woman to death with a piece of wood on August 21, 2016 at their Good Faith, Mahaicony home. Madray, now 53, who was initially, indicted for murder, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter during his appearance before Justice Jo Ann Barlow at the High Court in Demerara.

JAILED: Terrence Madray

According to State Prosecutor, Sarah Martin, on April 18, 2016, Terrence Madray called ‘Throw Back’ was heard by neighbours cursing out his elderly mother using a series of expletives. Soon after, Prosecutor Martin said, someone heard a trampling sound coming from their home and soon after heard the pensioner groaning. Community Policing ranks were summoned to the home where they called out for the elderly woman but were told by her son that she was asleep.

The woman was discovered lying on her blood-covered floor with a wound on her head by members of the area’s Community Policing Group (CPG) on April 21, 2016. The prosecutor in relating the facts of the case, said that Terrence Madray confessed to police that he lashed his mother in her head with a piece of wood and she fainted. The prosecutor related that the man further confessed that he made attempts to revive his mother by giving her a bath and some food, which she did not eat.

Prosecutor Martin further revealed that Terrence Madray told police that on the day in question he was drinking rum and was smoking weed when his mother told him something, which led him to beat her in the head with the piece of wood. The woman’s cause of death, according to the Prosecutor, was given as blunt trauma. During a plea in mitigation, Terrence Madray’s lawyer, Mark Conway pleaded with the court to be lenient with sentencing.

Cecelia Madray

Conway said that although the killing was a senseless one, his client has shown remorse. In fact, the lawyer highlighted that after beating his mother, Terrence Madray made attempts to revive her. Conway, nevertheless, said that his client is throwing himself at the mercy of the court by pleading guilty to the lesser offence and has chosen not to waste the court’s time of conducting a trial. The lawyer added that his client has been frequently attending church service during his incarceration.

Asked by Justice Barlow if he had anything to say, a crying Terrence Madray replied: “I really love my mother.” He described the beating as a “little incident” and said that he was sorry for what happened. According to him, he was under the influence of alcohol. But Justice Barlow told him that whether drunk or sober, one has to be aware of what they are doing. Thus, she told him that he cannot use drugs or alcohol as an excuse for killing someone.

The judge reminded the confessed killer that apart from being bedridden, his mother was left in his care. In imposing a sentence on Terrence Madray the judge started at a tariff of 26 years; she however deducted five years for the favourable mitigating factors which brings his total sentence to 21 years. The judge, however, ordered that the prison authorities are to deduct from that amount the time the killer spent in pretrial custody.