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14 years in jail for Lethem wife killer
High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon yesterday imposed a 14-year jail sentence on 34-year-old Peter Juan, who upon his arraignment pleaded guilty to killing his wife Justina Bernard.
Jailed: Peter Juan
Juan, who was represented by Attorney-at-law Maxwell McKay, was initially indicted for murder; he however opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, admitting that he unlawfully killed his wife on February 17, 2017.
According to State Prosecutor Nafeeza Baig, Juan and his wife had been imbibing alcohol on the day in question and later left for their home at Central Rupununi on Juan’s bicycle. They got into an argument and Juan dealt the woman several blows to the head.
In his plea to the court, Juan, a father of one, said he was sorry for what he had done and begged for forgiveness. He pleaded with the presiding Judge to give him “another chance.”
Prosecutor Baig asked the court to impose a sentence that would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence. She said that the killing stemmed from a domestic dispute in which alcohol played a major role.
For his part, Justice Kissoon imposed the custodial sentence and ordered the prison authorities to deduct whatever time Juan spent in pre-trial custody. The Judge, in arriving at an appropriate sentence, considered the relevant mitigating factors such as Juan’s expression of remorse and his early guilty plea. Keeping along this line, the Judge, among other things, took into consideration that Juan has a young child and the efforts he made to assist his wife after beating her.
As it related to the aggravating factors, the Judge pointed out that too often women are being killed at their hands of their partners. He added that alcohol consumption cannot serve as a justification for the killing. The judge said that a 14-year prison term is fitting in all the circumstances of the case, as the objective of sentencing is to rehabilitate persons for their reintegration into society.
In lending a word of advice, Justice Kissoon told Juan that he does not want to see him before the court again and urged him to do right by his child.
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