A 30-year-old man was on Wednesday jailed for 25 years after pleading guilty to the killing of his aunt back in 2015 at Hopetown, West Coast Berbice.

Devon Griffith had killed Vida Britton in the course or furtherance of a sexual offence of rape. Griffith was initially indicted with murder, but confessed to the lesser count of manslaughter after telling Justice Sandil Kissoon that the decision to offer a plea of guilt was of his own free will and that he was aware that he would have to serve a period of imprisonment. State Prosecutrix Ms Tuanna Hardy related that it was during the night of October 3, 2015, that Griffith went to the home of his great aunt at Hopetown Village, West Coast Berbice. At the time of his visit, the elderly Vida Britton was viewing television with her grand-daughter Jonica and Griffith indicated that he was there to spend the night.

Subsequently, the victim and her grand-daughter retired to bed. During the night, Jonica, awoke and saw her grandmother lying motionless on the bedroom floor. She observed in the darkened room, that someone was standing over her and as she screamed, the now convicted man turned on the bedroom light. He slapped her on her mouth and on her left leg, whilst demanding that she assist him to lift the victim on to the bed. Jonica cried as she complied and continued crying until she fell asleep.

The next morning, a neighbour who heard the crying enquired as to what had transpired and later discovered the motionless woman in her bed. A subsequent post-mortem revealed that Britton died from asphyxiation due to compressed injuries to neck, compounded by suffocation.

The pathologist recorded that there was evidence of sexual penetration. In handing down the sentence, Justice Kissoon said he will start with the basic 60 years with an additional 10 years for the aggravated assault. He deducted 35 years for the plea of guilt, 10 years for the plea of mitigation, resulting in a term of imprisonment of 25 years. However, he issued a directive to the director of prisons to deduct the time of one year 10 months for the time spent as a remand prisoner.

Earlier, state-assigned Defence Lawyer Ms Sasha Roberts told the court, that her client was placing himself at the mercy of the court. He has taken full responsibility for the act and he chooses not to waste the court’s time .Your Honour, I would be grateful as you impose sentence that you take into consideration that when he is released he can make a meaningful contribution to the society’, Roberts informed the court. Further, the Legal Aid Attorney informed Justice Kissoon that her client has no previous offence or charges before any court and “while I plea for mercy, I am aware that justice must be done for the victim as well,” the attorney said.