KUMEY Conrad Bourne, called ‘Kwamee Bourne’ was on Wednesday sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by Justice Navindra Singh for the 2016 killing of his elderly father, after he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

The accused changed his plea as the trial was at its summation stage and the judge accepted the plea of guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Justice Navindra Singh then asked the foreman to return a formal not guilty verdict for the alleged murder and a formal guilty verdict for manslaughter. The judge told the accused, in his address, to make use of the services and programmes available in prison to become a better person since after serving his sentence, he will be released and will return to society.
Justice Singh arrived at the sentence after taking several factors into consideration, including the genuine display of remorse by the accused and the fact that he took responsibility for the incident.

He also considered the fact that the accused tried to assist his father after the incident by tending to the wounds and even tried to get him to the hospital.
Justice Singh then sentenced Bourne to 20 years’ imprisonment and ordered that time served on remand be deducted, which amounted to about three years.

Meanwhile, in his address to the court, Bourne said “I realised certain things happened and I will try to be a better person.” In his plea of mitigation, defence attorney Maxwell McKay said that his client is a father of two and is 39 years old and is certainly remorseful for his actions on the day in question. He added that Bourne is aware of what happened but do not say why and asked for leniency in sentencing.

In response, state prosecutor Tuanna Hardy told the court that the matter is a serious one, since a life was lost, as such, asked that the sentence reflect on 71-year-old man, who is not with us.

According to the indictment, on May 23, 2016 it is alleged that the accused, Kumey Conrad Bourne called ‘Kwamee Bourne’ murdered Rickford Bourne in the county of Demerara.
The state was represented by prosecutors Tuanna Hardy, Abigail Gibbs and Teriq Mohamed whilst the defence attorney was Maxwell McKay.