Extra-marital affair killer gets 12 years imprisonment
JUSTICE Brassington Reynolds, on Tuesday, sentenced cane harvester Shawn Tyndall called Arthur and ‘Asha’ to 12 years imprisonment for the unlawful killing of his lover in an extra-marital affair, Camille Melinda De Jonge. The prisoner had, originally, been indicted for the murder at the woman’s Mc Gowan Street, Manchester, Corentyne home between September 24 and 25, 2006.
But following an unsuccessful bid, by defence counsel, Raymond Ali, to have a confession expunged from the evidence at the trial, the killer pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and the plea was accepted by the State, with permission from the judge .
State Prosecutor, Rhondel Weaver urged the court to consider that a life had been taken through violence.
Refuting the defence argument that De Jonge was the aggressor and a bully, the prosecutor maintained she was the victim. Her two school-age children, now 16 and 10 years old, went to bed with a mother on the night of the incident and awoke without one.
Earlier, in a summary of the case for the prosecution, Weaver said De Jonge lived in the village with her two children, then 10 and seven, respectively, while Tyndall was in a legal union with Jonette Tyndall .
On September 24, 2006, the woman took her two children to horse racing and later, to buy ice cream, before returning home.
Subsequently, that evening, when the children were asleep, Tyndall visited and, after an argument, he fatally wounded her.
On awakening the next morning, the children saw their mother lying in a pool of blood, failing to awaken her, alerted a neighbour who summoned the police.

Severed carotid
A post mortem examination, performed by Dr. Vivikanand Brijmohan, established that her death was due to the severed carotid artery, a stab wound, shock and haemorrhage and the partial fracturing of the fourth vertebrae, Weaver related.
Probation and Welfare Officer, Mitford Ward reported that Tyndall has accepted responsibility for the crime, which has resulted in a loss for the victim’s children.
The report said Tyndall, at 30, had met and married Jonette Tyndall and the union produced two sons, 13 and nine years old but, while still living with his wife, he began an adulterous relationship with De Jonge.
With the exception of his philandering, his wife described him as a good husband and provider for his family. She stated that he possesses a quiet personality and, throughout their 18 years of togetherness, violence was never a feature. However, the wife acknowledged being the quarrelsome partner when she is upset.
Ward said the tragic incident was a tremendous shock to the prisoner’s wife and children, the latter having been seriously affected, with the younger of the two losing focus at school.
The compendium said Tyndall, the sixth of 12 siblings born to Rawle and Myrtle Tyndall,  grew up in Ulverston, another Corentyne village and attended Manchester Primary and Community High schools, dropping out of the second in either form two or three and leaving with no formal training or skill.
Tyndall commenced working with various agencies as a labourer before being employed as a cane harvester at the Guyana Sugar Corporation. (GySuCo) Albion Estate.
He had grown up under normal circumstances in a nuclear family setting and was instructed in proper moral values and ethics, often expressed and manifested a calm, peaceful disposition and persons in the Manchester community were surprised that he could have been involved in such a crime, Ward reported.
The compilation said Tyndall, while confessing to the killing, claimed to have repented and is seeking reformation from his creator.
Addressing the court, Tyndall, with head slightly bowed in the dock, took some 30 minutes relating events leading up to the tragedy he said he regrets .
According to him, the adulterous affair lasted for five years, having commenced when De Jonge was pregnant with another man’s child.

Liked her
He said:”I liked her. I had my wife. I know I was cheating on my wife. My wife got to know I was cheating with Camille De Jonge. I used to doubt until one night she caught me.”
Tyndall recalled September 23, 2006 , when he and De Jonge went to Rose Hall Town Fun Day and, on leaving the event at midnight, they proceeded to her house, where he spent an hour before going to his matrimonial home .
He continued:”The following morning I went to her house. I gave her $4,000 as she wanted to go to the horse race. She took her children there and I went with my wife and children. After taking my wife home, I went to Camille’s home, where, after spending some time with her, I told her I had to go home, but she did not want me to leave.”
Tyndall quoted De Jonge as telling him:”You can’t go home now, you just come… you can’t go home.”
He said he asked the woman why she wanted him to stay, knowing that he had a family and her reply was: “You make me go at the back of Manchester to live . I thought you would be with me.”
Tyndall said he reminded his lover of their time together the previous night and that he had to return home to go to work but she insisted on him staying and went into the kitchen, from where she brandished a knife and declared he cannot go.
“I tried to take the knife away from her. She fell. I don’t know what happen afterwards. I got up and went home. I later heard that she died. My Honour, she was good to me, her children, too. I loved the children and also the deceased. She could not have found another man like me. I am very sorry. I was not the aggressor. I never believed something like this would have happened. I am sorry,” he lamented.
The lawyer Ali, who was assigned by the State, in a plea of mitigation, pointed out that Tyndall had no previous conviction and violence was never a part of the 18-year relationship he shared with his wife.
Ali alleged that De Jonge was a bully and had a confrontational attitude while Tyndall was a man of good character and a background of humility.
Defence counsel submitted that the offence was an isolated one, as it was completely out of the prisoner’s character.
Against the backdrop of domestic violence, he appealed to the judge not to allow Tyndall to be made to set an example but to examine the relationship, along with the factors contributory to the offence.
Ali said De Jonge was the aggressor as she brought the knife into the arena.

Simple gentleman
Justice Reynolds, imposing sentence, told the prisoner: “You were clearly a simple gentleman who lost your way. You were out of your league. You got into a game which you were not up to. You hanged your hat where your hand can’t reach. You went into a league which you did not have the skill to manage.”
The judge observed that, in Guyana, lots of games are being played and weak men who cannot say no will continue to suffer until they can say no.
“It is not macho to provide it all. Don’t take upon yourself more than you ought to,” Justice Reynolds advised Tyndall.
The judge told the convict:”I am sorry, but a life has been wasted. It matters not whether the victim was a bully or not. She is not on trial. She will be judged at a higher place in the fullness of time. Having regard to your plea, the mitigation and the favourable report, the adverse affect which your absence will have on your children and that of the deceased and the time which you have spent as a remanded prisoner, which I am bound to discount based on a recent decision of the Caribbean Court of Justice , your age and your apparent remorse I sentence you to 12 years imprisonment.”
Kevin, the 16-year-old son of deceased, who was in the courtroom remarked, to the media, that he has already lost his mother but is satisfied with the court’s decision.
De Jonge was the fourth of eight children born to now dead Phyllis De Jonge, who was a popular Georgetown newspaper vendor.