Businessman found guilty of killing teen

Mar 19, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – A 12-member jury at the Suddie High Court on Wednesday found a Lethem businessman, Junior France, guilty of manslaughter for killing a teenager, Dane Jerrick, in May 2020 at the Puruni Landing located in Region Seven. Sentencing has been scheduled for April 11, 2022.

Dead, Dane Jerrick

Found guilty of manslaughter, Junior France

The jury was empanelled on March 1, 2022 and had pleaded not guilty. The hearing of the case commenced two days later on March 3, 2022. The judge that presided over the matter was Justice Jo-Ann Barlow. The State was represented by State Prosecutor Tiffini Lyken, while France’s defense attorneys were Nigel Hughes and Ronald J. Daniels.
France was initially charged with the murder of Dane Jerrick back on May 23, 2020 but the jury convicted him of manslaughter.
France who owned a shop at the Puruni landing had shot Jerrick dead during the late hours of May 17, 2020 with his licensed shotgun. Investigators had stated back then that the shooting stemmed from a confrontation between the two of them.
The businessman did not deny shooting the teen but had accused the victim of intruding in his yard. He had claimed that his son had alerted him that someone was in their yard. France continued that he armed himself with the weapon and when he got up, there was someone attempting to flee from his premises. He then fired three shots behind the fleeing individual and retired to bed. Eyewitnesses however had challenged his version of events and claimed that Jerrick was never on the man’s premises but standing on the road when France opened fire on him.
The following day at dawn a female jogger reportedly stumbled upon Jerrick’s body lying in front of France’s shop. He was killed from a gunshot wound to his lower back.

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