A REMORSEFUL Renwick Alexander was on Tuesday sentenced to 12 years six months for the 2010 killing of his best friend, after he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, before Justice Navindra Singh.

In handing down the sentence, Justice Singh said, “I am not harsh, you have accepted responsibility and you have thrown yourself at the mercy of the court.” Having taken certain mitigating factors into consideration, including the genuine show of remorse, Justice Singh ordered the prison authorities to deduct time served from the sentence.

Justice Singh told Alexander to start preparing himself to be released, and recognise that he had been given a fair chance of life or what is left of it. In response, Alexander told the court that he was very thankful. In presenting the State’s case, Teriq Mohamed told the court, on Tuesday morning, that it was alleged that on November 3, 2010, the accused, Renwick Alexander, murdered Carl Thomas, 35.

Alexander, after consulting his attorney, Nigel Hughes, pleaded not guilty to murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. The court accepted the guilty plea. Alexander, in his statement to the court, said “my sympathies to the family, I am really sorry,” after which he cried but was asked to address the daughter of the deceased, who was present in court.

Alexander told her: “I am sorry for what took place,” and she too began to cry. In his plea of mitigation, the defence attorney told the court that Alexander was 69 years old and the duo were good friends, so much so they shared a house in central Georgetown. He added that the close friends had many difficulties, and things got so economically strained, they had to share a bedroom, and, on the day in question, they had an issue which turned into an altercation.

Hughes stated that, during the altercation, the deceased was stabbed and Alexander had already spent eight years in jail, had no priors before the incident, although he had social challenges. The defence attorney pointed out that the accused had been exceedingly remorseful and wasn’t any trouble to law enforcement and, as a bachelor, it was a misadventure that placed him in the position.

Owing to the fact that a life was lost, the life of his closest friend, Hughes described the incident as a tragedy of emotions and asked the court for mercy on behalf of his client, who was considered a model prisoner at Mazaruni Prisons. Hughes added that a single stab wound was inflicted, and, in his twilight years, the accused wanted to make peace. On April 2, 2014, before the same judge, Alexander was sentenced to 56 years’ imprisonment after a 12-member jury found him guilty of the offence of murder.

The sentence was appealed and a re-trial was ordered. However, when he appeared before Justice Singh on Tuesday, he opted to make a guilty plea of the lesser count of manslaughter, which was accepted. The State was represented by prosecutors Teriq Mohamed, Abigail Gibbs and Tuanna Hardy, while the defence attorney was Nigel Hughes.