Herstelling man gets 11 years for killing friend
–as jury brings him in guilty for manslaughter

A MIXED jury on Friday returned a unanimous verdict to convict Rawle Bernard of the lesser count of manslaughter, rather than the original murder charge for which he was indicted.
The 12-member panel deliberated for less than an hour before returning the verdict.
Prior to being sentenced, Bernard, now around 37, told the Court that he felt as though the justice system had done him a grave injustice. “I feel like they spit in meh face; I’m here for three-and-a-half years,” he muttered before distorted transmission sounds prevented listeners from hearing more of his utterances.
Prior to handing down his sentence, the judge noted that while Bernard, who was 33 at the time of the incident, had pleaded for leniency, he at no time expressed any remorse.

State Prosecutrix, Tuanna Hardy, had led the evidence of several witness to prove the fatal stabbing of 50-year-old Herstelling, East Bank Demerara resident, Sylvan Lennox Stoll, called “Bow foot” and “Gold Teeth”, which occurred between August 13-14, 2017 at the Seafield Community Centre Ground, on the West Coast Berbice.
In his unsworn statement before Justice Madame Simone Morris-Ramlall and a 12-member jury at the Berbice Assizes, Bernard, who at the time resided at Onderneeming, West Bank Demerara, said he was invited to an event on the fateful day by one Daniel Pereira; that they were both standing by the door of the venue when the deceased, who, incidentally, was a friend of his, accused him of urinating in the bus, and threatened to make him walk home.
Said he of how events unfolded on the night in question: “He lashed me with a bottle; I cuffed him. I went to the pavilion to cool off, and on my return, I noticed that no one was there. I started to walk;

I saw the police… I came into the station where I was handcuffed; left with my boxers only, and placed in the lockups for four days. No one told me nothing; I did not ‘jook’ this man; I am innocent.” Government Pathologist, Dr. Vivekanand Bridgemohan, had given as the cause of death shock and haemorrhage due to a stab wound to the lung.
Evidence had revealed that Bernard and Stoll were among a group of friends who had travelled together in a minibus all the way from Demerara to the Ancient County to attend a horseracing meet, and later a barbecue event. One eyewitness claimed that the men were locked in a scuffle, after which the deceased ran towards the bar, where it was noticed that the white tee-shirt he was wearing was bloodied. The injured Stoll was reportedly placed in a minibus, and taken to the Mahaicony Cottage Hospital where he succumbed.