Written by George Barclay
ANDREW Gomes who chopped off his father’s head with a cutlass and appeared in the High Court on a murder charge pleaded guilty to the lesser count and escaped yesterday with 12 years jail.The son pleaded guilty to chopping off his father Stanislaus Gomes’ head with a cutlass on the grounds that his dad had first attacked him with a similar weapon. He claimed that his father used to harass him but declared, “I am sorry for what has happened to my father.”

Midway in the murder trial, yesterday, Gomes’ lawyer Mr. Huckumchand indicated to the court that his client wished to change his plea from not guilty of murder to guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter.
After the prosecution accepted the plea, the jury was directed to return a formal verdict of guilty to manslaughter.
Justice Navindra Singh who was aware of the facts of the case as narrated by the prosecutrix and the witness, who had testified, told the accused that the sentence he intended to impose was 30 years.
And from that he would deduct three years for his guilty plea. There will be a further deduction of five years because as soon as he was arrested, he confessed to the police. Another deduction of five years was made for the time he served in prison and a further deduction of five years on the grounds that the father contributed to his death by the use of a cutlass.
With these deductions from the initial sentence of 30 years, Andrew Gomes will have to serve 12 years.
When the murder trial began, the judge and the mixed jury at the Demerara Assizes heard a story about how Andrew Gomes of Soesdyke-Lynden Highway,Yarrowkabra, had chopped off his father’s head.
Prosecutrix Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin told the jury in her opening address that the son had made a confession statement to the police.
And Detective Corporal Herbert Henry, the first witness called to testify before the guilty plea was accepted, stated that during November 2008, he was in charge of the C.I.D. when he got a report of an alleged murder on Stanislaus Gomes by Andrew Gomes, the accused in the dock, which occurred at Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
The witness said that on the 7th of November   at about 10:30 hrs he and a party of policemen proceeded to Yarrowkabra, Soesdyke-Linden Highway. On arrival there he saw the lifeless body of Stanislaus Gomes on the ground with his face upwards. The body was clothed in a short green pants with blue stripes and blue shirt. The head had been severed.
Corporal Henry said that while on the scene he received further information.  As a result he went further into Yarrowkabra with other policemen where he contacted the accused. He identified himself and the others to the accused as policemen in plain clothes.
Later he told the accused that it was alleged that on the 7th of November, 2008, at Yarrowkabra, he murdered Stanislaus Gomes and issued to him the caution – “You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so, but whatever you say may be taken down in writing and given in evidence.”
According to the detective corporal, the accused said: “Me chop off me father head. He is dead.”
The detective added, “I arrested the accused and asked him for the cutlass he used to chop off his father’s head and he told me he hid it in a clump of bushes.”
The witness added: “The man pointed out an area to me. I went into the bushes and retrieved the cutlass with what appeared to be blood stains on the blade.”
“I took possession of the cutlass and I escorted the accused to the Timehri Police Station. I placed my initials and the date on the handle of the cutlass and I lodged it with the station sergeant at Timehri Police Station for safe keeping.
“I asked the accused if he wished to put into writing what he told me at Yarrowkabra and he said yes.” The accused then gave a written statement.