At Berbice Assizes…
JUSTICE Winston Patterson, at the Berbice Assizes, yesterday sentenced Mechel Skeete to 13 years imprisonment for the fiery manslaughter of her reputed husband, Lincoln Gilead. The judge inflicted the penalty on the convict after perusing and listening to a probation report on her background.

Commenting on the documentation, by Probation and Welfare Officer Mitford Ward, Justice Patterson said key aspects, in relation to the parents and children’s reaction, were not condensed in the four-page compendium which highlighted distrust, resentment and psychiatric issues.

However, in conclusion, Ward said the prisoner left her family of origin unceremoniously with feelings of resentment, after which she established, at 17 years of age, a relationship with Gilead, the love of her life, with whom she had hoped to find happiness that previously eluded her.

The compilation said Skeete seemed to have invested a great deal, emotionally, into the relationship and, when confronted with the realities, became totally devastated.

Ward said Skeete’s efforts to have her life issues resolved, apparently, seemed futile and that drove her to the point of ambivalence.

Her apparent deteriorated health seemed to have been the result of the disappointment she experienced with Gilead and her actions, on that fateful day, were certainly unacceptable and, by no means, an appropriate solution to her problems, the document said.

In a plea of mitigation, Defence Counsel Charrandas Persaud appealed to the judge to show leniency.

The lawyer said, while acknowledging that a life was lost and no amount of emotion, remorse or money could compensate for it, he must take into consideration the prisoner’s two children, aged 14 and 11 years, still need the guiding hand of a parent.

Suffered
Persaud said Skeete suffered at the hands of the victim who fathered a child outside their relationship whilst they were together and she sought the assistance of the Probation and Welfare Services to find ways to cope.

But he asked:”Where does a woman go to find security from domestic abuse?” answering that she had to find a way out.

Persaud said the children saw their father in flames as the convict looked on confusingly and he urged the Court to take note that the act was committed when she was undergoing psychiatric treatment. 

Justice Patterson said: “The maximum penalty for the offence which were convicted of is life imprisonment. A life has been lost. The deceased was agonisingly alive for sometime before he succumbed. I have to consider the dramatic effect the incident has on the relatives and the children.”

The judge said, with the sentence, he has to ensure that there is continual treatment and psychiatric evaluation whilst Skeete is incarcerated.

Prison Officer Gilead succumbed to burns which covered 70 to 75 per cent of his body and forensic pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, in his autopsy report said, death was due to septicemia, septic burns, cystitis and bronchoneumonia.

The case for the Prosecution, presented by State Counsel Dionne Mc Cammon,  was that, on May 14, 2006, Gilead awoke Edith Clarke and, having told her something, was taken to New Amsterdam Hospital with burns about his body.

He was, subsequently, transferred to Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he died and was buried on May 25, 2006, at  Stanleytown Cemetery in New Amsterdam.