– after killing foster nephew who spurned his amorous advances

ROY Lewis has been committed to stand jury trial at the Berbice Assizes following a preliminary inquiry into the allegation that he fatally stabbed his foster nephew because the lad had spurned his advances for a relationship with a woman.

Several witnesses testified at the preliminary inquiry presided over by Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus sitting at the Sisters Magistrate’s Court, East Bank of Berbice, located a short distance from where the incident had occurred just over a year ago. She ruled that a prima facie case had been made out against the defendant, and accordingly signed the committal warrant.

Eighteen-year-old Devon Da Silva, alias Devon Lewis, succumbed to stab wounds while he lay in the arms of his girlfriend at her home at Sisters Village, East Bank of Berbice just after 02:30hrs on December 27, 2012.

His alleged attacker had been held under police guard at the New Amsterdam Hospital, where he had been rushed after ingesting what was suspected to be a poisonous liquid.

At the time of Devon’s murder, the 34-year-old Roy Lewis, Devon’s foster uncle, had faced a criminal charge of threatening language used against Devon, and had been expected to return to the Sisters Magistrate’s Court for trial on February 4, 2013.

In Devon Lewis’s court documents dated May 3, 2012, he had recounted that he was not on speaking terms with his uncle since he was 14 years old. The misunderstanding stemmed from his uncle telling him that he would kill him if he should tell anyone that he (the deceased) had anal sex with him (the uncle).

The teenager had reported that during the misunderstanding in May, Roy Lewis, his foster father’s brother, had drawn a metal-handled knife to his neck and had told him: “Remember what I tell you. I will kill you.” A scuffle had ensued in the presence of several witnesses, and it had resulted in Devon Lewis receiving injuries to his left hand and abdomen.

The now deceased Devon had also reported that while he had never told anyone of what he had been forced to do, the suspect would always threaten him; and when he sought employment at the Bermine cement packing facility, his attacker had also sought employment there, and was in the habit of puncturing Devon’s bicycle wheel and throwing suspicious liquid in his milk.

During the hearings of the preliminary inquiry, several witnesses had testified in favour of the prosecution, but Roy Lewis was unrepresented.

(By Jeune Bailey Vankeric)