DEVINDRA Somawaru, 50, who was on Thursday found guilty of setting his son on fire, will know his fate for committing the heinous act on May 10.
While the jury found him guilty of intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, he was found not guilty of the first count of attempted murder for the actions on May 7, 2015.
Following the verdict, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) field foreman’s eyes welled up with tears as he was led away by Deputy Commander Errol Watts and other ranks to prison.
Justice Bovell-Drakes ordered the convict be remanded to the New Amsterdam Prison, pending a probation report and sentencing on May 10.
During his summing up to the jury, the judge questioned whether the accused was the master of his own mind at the time of the incident, as he had been consuming a lot of beer.
Further, the judge questioned whether the elder Somawaru was running to help the child who was at the time engulfed in flames.
Somawaru, who was unrepresented by counsel, had initially pleaded not guilty, and had opted to give sworn testimony.
In that statement from the witness box, he told the judge and mixed jury that after drinking several beers at the Junior Staff Club at Rose Hall Estate and at two Chinese restaurants in East Canje on the night of May 7, 2015, he went home.
When he got home, he poured methylated spirits in a hole beneath the washing sink after seeing cockroaches there, and set it afire.
However, he saw instead that his elder son was on fire and had attempted to extinguish the flames with his hands, which, fortunately was not burnt.
At the time his son had been seated in a couch in the living room.
Somawaru denied that he had kicked his son, who, after being set ablaze, had fallen while attempting to flee.
In evidence, the boy Rickey Somawaru now 13, said on May 7, 2015, accompanied by his father with whom he lived, they went to New Amsterdam to do some shopping.
On completion, they proceeded home. However, the accused stopped at his work place at Rose Hall Estate and the minor continued his journey home.

DRINKING SPREE
As the day progressed, the accused did not return home when expected, and, as such, the victim went to the Rose Hall Estate Junior Staff Club where he met his father consuming Stag Beer with other staff members.
About 18: 00hrs, the witness and his father left the club and proceeded home.
But when he reached home, he continued to consume several stag beers. Two and a half hours later, the elder Somawaru left the child home, and went to a nearby shop in the vicinity of the Gangaram Village ball field, where several more bottles of beer were purchased.
The accused returned home and continued his drinking spree. Moments later, the accused told the elder of his two sons that he was going out again to buy more beers.
But, the child pleaded with his father not to go as he (the child) did not want to be left alone. The pre-teen was of the opinion that his father had had enough as he was staggering.
The witness revealed that he closed the door in an attempt to prevent his father from leaving the home, but the accused became annoyed and took off the child’s pants and shirt, leaving him only with his brief.
He then inflicted lashes on him with a long boot.
While this was happening, the child held on to the accused’s feet and this further aggravated the accused, who then picked up a plastic bottle containing methylated spirits and poured the contents on the child.
He then struck a match and threw the lighted stick on the child.

RAN FOR HELP
Rickey Somawaru said he had run over to a neighbour’s house after receiving burns to his left side face, arms, neck and thighs.
He was taken to the Reliance Police Station, then the New Amsterdam Hospital before being transferred to the Burns Unit of the Georgetown Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he remained a patient for 28 days.
His mother, Shanta Bridgepaul in her evidence from the witness box, said her son was expected to live temporarily with his father following the intervention of an officer of the Child Protection Agency (CPA).
After receiving a phone call, she visited the New Amsterdam hospital where her son reported that his entire skin was burning.
As a result, medicated ointment was applied by the medical practitioner before the child was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital .
After spending several weeks at the GPHC, the injured lad was taken to the United States and became a patient at the Shriners Hospital for Children, in Boston, which specialises in burn injuries.
Bridgepaul had told the judge and jury that her son was unable to move his neck,  his arms, or his mouth, which remained open. One of his ears, she said, was pasted downwards.
However, with overseas medical intervention, the victim can now close his mouth and move his neck and hands. She also informed the court that her son will have to undergo further corrective surgeries to remedy the injuries he suffered.
Meanwhile, prior to questioning the witness, the accused told his former wife that it was sad to listen to her testimony and that he too feels the pain as he had contributed to the child’s formation.
But, responding to his questions, Bridgepaul said probation officers had to intervene after he, the accused, had given the child a Samsung Galaxy Phone.
The mother said she was unable to think about the accused as her main focus was on her son.
At this point, Somawaru said he was sorry for the incident before being directed by the court to stick to his questions.
Responding to the jury, the witness noted that while her elder son was with his father, she visited him at school, bought his text books, and catered for his extra lessons.
At no time, she said, did her son mention that he was being abused by his father. At the child’s current state, the child cannot function as a normal person, the mother said.
According to Dr Ganesh Omapersaud, Rickey Somawaru received second and third degree burns to his face, neck, chest, upper extremities and both thighs. The injuries were listed as life-threatening.