AN expressionless Brian Bob-Semple, 25, was on Tuesday sentenced to 23 years imprisonment for the 2015 killing of a nine-year-old boy. Justice Sandil Kissoon ordered the sentence in the Georgetown High Court after the man pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

According to the indictment, the accused allegedly murdered the deceased between April 1 to 4, 2015 in the county of Demerara.

When the indictment was presented in the Georgetown High Court on Tuesday morning the accused pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

In presenting the facts the State said the deceased, who was nine years old at the time, left home, returned but left once again without returning home.

She related that the boy’s body was later found on a dam at Houston.

However, the State’s attorney stated that the accused was arrested and he admitted to Police that he “carry the boy at the back deh, and I de choking he.”

The cause of death was given as asphyxiation to the neck and drowning.

In response, defence attorney Maxwell McKay said, “A person can’t be in their right mind in a matter like this.”

He asked the court for mercy and added that the accused needed psychological treatment and had expressed his need for remedial training while in prison.

Justice Sandil Kissoon said that the accused should benefit from remedial training while in jail.

In handing down his sentence, Justice Kissoon started at a base of 25 years but made some deductions for the plea and time served then added nine years and seven months for the degree of cruelty involved in the incident.

He then sentenced Brian Bob-Simple to 23 years imprisonment with parole.