…jailed for 56 years
A DEMERARA Assize jury yesterday found 61-year old Renwick Alexander guilty of knifing to death his neighbour, Carl Thomas, 35, on November 3, 2010.
And presiding judge Navindra Singh did not impose the death sentence, but sentenced the convict to 56 years imprisonment.
The judge had in mind a sentence of 60 years, but discounted four years, for the time the prisoner was incarcerated.
Defence counsel Mr. Huckumchand had urged the jury to find that his client had acted in self defence and had requested a verdict of not guilty.
But prosecutrix, Mrs. Judith Mursalin who, in her address to the jury, asked them to find that Alexander’s use of the large knife to stab Thomas in the abdomen clearly showed that he had the intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.
The prosecutrix analyzed the evidence to satisfy the jury that the prosecution had proven its case against the accused.
And she cited the Bible by quoting Exodus 20:13, which say: “Thou shall not kill”.
The judge had included the question of provocation and manslaughter in his summing up, but the jury was unanimous in their verdict of murder.
The star witness for the prosecution was Lear Porter, the brother of the deceased Carl Thomas, nicknamed ‘Dag’ or ‘Dog’.
Thomas was also called a ‘Junkie’.
Testifying about what happened on the day in question, Porter had said to the jury, “I remember Wednesday November 03, 2010. My brother, Carl Thomas was at my shop laughing and talking. Around 6:00p.m. I went in my shop and I heard a loud argument.
“Renwick Alexander rolled up on a bicycle and started calling my brother Carl Thomas ‘a cross’. My brother told him he is a bigger cross. My brother came in the shop whilst arguing and went out back. As he was passing, Renwick Alexander pulled a knife from his waist and stabbed my brother in the chest.”
The 61-year-old murderer took the 56 years sentence calmly.
(By George Barclay)