– for killing stepson
JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds imposed a six-year sentence on stepson killer Alfred Campbell called Sobers, who fatally shot 20-year old Travis Cleon Fraser , while he was asleep at his Liverpool Village home, Corentyne  on January 22, 2004. Campbell, who escaped the gallows, having appealed his death sentence, was granted a retrial by the Appeal Court. However, that hearing was aborted two weeks ago, after investigators revealed that a juror sitting in his trial faced a criminal charge of indecent assault.
Last week Tuesday following his arraignment in the second trial the man in the dock denied the murder indictment, but confessed to the lesser count of manslaughter. Sentence was adjourned pending a probation report.
However, Probation and Welfare Officer Mitford Ward in a comprehensive report related that Alfred Campbell lived a life of excessiveness and recklessness.
Having written the then School Leaving Examinations, Campbell upon leaving school, worked approximately for two and a half years as an apprentice doing motor mechanics, prior to securing a job with the Guyana Sugar Corporation as a serviceman for excavators.
After working for four months as a serviceman he began operating the said machines and was subsequently employed permanently as a dragline operator.
His job, he related, caused him to travel around the country, and as he moved from place to place he established several relationships, producing children with most of those women .He related that he has fathered 25 children.
Campbell tied the nuptial knot in 1970, and four children were produced from this union, however, he admitted that his marriage did not survive because of his unfaithfulness.
The offender related that in 1976, he left his job at the sugar industry and migrated to Suriname where he spent eight years working as a dragline operator , and on returning to his homeland in 1984, he continued doing the same job with various private contractors, before being recalled by his former employers , who reinstated him.
An accident in 2002, forced him to retire from his job, having been deemed medically unfit, but his incapacitation was short lived, thus enabling him to work again with private contractors.
During that period, a visiting relationship was established with Pamela Fraser with whom he has fathered four children, while at the same time he was having a relationship with Anne Corlette who is now deceased, both of Liverpool Village, Corentyne.
Ward noted that even though the man in the dock earned approximately $80,000, a week as a dragline operator, which would have afforded him a comfortable life, his present circumstances are very much the contrary, which resulted  in  financial conflicts that haunted his relationships.
According to the Probation Officer, the killer’s alcohol dependence and frustration seem to have made him very vulnerable to the evil force upon which he blames his behaviour.
With respect to Campbell’s attitude towards the offence, it was noted that he has expressed remorse for the act, which he felt should have dealt with, more appropriately.
However, the prisoner claims he was overwhelmed by an evil force which forced him to commit the dastardly act.
Mr. Ward , related to the Court , that information pertaining to the offender’s character is conflicting , as while he is considered by some persons as liberal, hard working and ‘would not trouble anyone who do not trouble him’, others have describe him as a ‘Bully’.
His state appointed attorney, Charrandas Persaud, in a mitigation plea said, his client did not have a violent lifestyle, which would have given justice to the hideous crime which he had committed.
‘Fourteen years, Your Honour, my client lived with Pamela Fraser, the mother of the deceased .He fathered four of her seven children, but treated all like his own. It’s unfortunate that he took the life of her son, but I plead for leniency….He is totally a transformed man, he is God fearing, and has expressed remorse over the incident’.
State Prosecutor Dionne Mc Cammon, had related that Travis Cleon Scott , called Black Boy, aged 20 years, was asleep at his mother’s home at Liverpool Village when Alfred Campbell, armed with a gun , fired a fatal shot to the defenseless lad’s chest.
Justice Brassington Reynolds, addressing the convict said, ‘I have considered all uttered by your lawyer and the information passed to the court by the Probation Officer Mr. Mitford Ward. I am to say however, not withstanding, you clearly in your midlife became a victim of several indiscretions and in excessiveness.’
‘Cavalier lifestyle, all of your golden years away from the several persons whose lives you have touched .A father of 25, I do not know how much example you have set for your offsprings .Having considered your advanced age, state of contrition, your remorse, the six and a half years you have been in incarceration, an earlier trial, an aborted one, you shall serve six years’, the judge declared.’  
Campbell, who would be celebrating his seventieth birthday on October 19, stood expressionless in the dock ,as the custodial penalty was imposed at the Berbice Assizes yesterday morning.
None of his relatives were present during the previous trials nor at his recent sentencing.