FORMER policeman Shawn Fordyce has been committed to stand trial at the next sitting of the Demerara High Court on three counts of attempted murder.Sparendaam magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul, ruling on Thursday that a prima facie case has been made out against the 44-year-old, committed him to face a judge and jury following conclusion of the preliminary inquiry.

The indictable charge Fordyce faced indicated that on August 1, 2013, he armed himself with a cutlass and dealt his wife Dorothy Blackman-Fordyce, 47, several chops; and he also chopped her three daughters — Latoya Wilson, 20; Dollette Fordyce, 12; and Wanda Fortune — at their ‘D’ Field Sophia home.

The prosecution was led by Corporal Bharat Mangru, who had called upon several witnesses to testify, including Fordyce’s step-daughters Latoya and Wanda. However, his wife Dorothy and their daughter Dollettae Fordyce refused to testify.

According to prosecution facts in the case, Shawn and Dorothy have been married for 13 years, and Shawn would often verbally abuse Dorothy. On the day in question, at about 9 pm, Dorothy was preparing to go on an outing with her sister when Shawn became annoyed and began to protest her going out.

She changed her mind, and instead was going to a nearby shop with her three daughters to purchase a phone card when she heard footsteps running behind her. She turned around and saw Fordyce, who then positioned himself in front of her, dipped water and mud from a nearby pothole and threw it on her, then stepped back about three feet and pulled out a cutlass from under his jersey. Upon seeing the cutlass, Dorothy turned to block her face and her daughter, and received a chop to her left shoulder. She fell to the ground and lost consciousness for a few minutes. After she regained consciousness she couldn’t move her left hand. She then saw Fordyce and pleaded with him, but he allegedly chopped her to her head and she lost consciousness again.

After Dorothy fainted, her daughters started screaming for help and tried to assist her, but Fordyce reportedly rushed at them and hacked each of them several times about their bodies before escaping.

Fordyce eluded police capture for two years, but was finally arrested in October 2015 at the junction of Church and Alexander Streets selling newspapers for Dorothy Fordyce, his wife.