At Berbice Assizes…
JUSTICE Winston Patterson, describing manslaughter convict Justin Bailey as a boy in a man’s domain, sentenced him to 13 years imprisonment yesterday for the unlawful  killing of Hilda Nicholson called Hilda Nedd, on October 18, 2006.
The victim succumbed to two stab wounds to the heart, outside an outhouse in Jarvis Street, Rosignol, West Bank Berbice.
Bailey, who was originally indicted for murder, stood expressionless as the sentence was pronounced but his only sister, his daughter and the mother of his son wept while his father, Tyrone Bailey had no emotional reaction.
Earlier, when asked, by the judge, what the penalty should be, Bailey replied: “Sir, I can’t answer that.”
A report on his background, by Probation and Welfare Officer Ann Choy, said Bailey is the elder of two children borne to the legal union of Tyrone Jameson Bailey and Maureen Branche, now divorced.
The older Bailey is a chauffeur and in a common law union which produced two children.
Choy said the prisoner grew up in Moraballi Street, Mackenzie, Linden. When he was seven years old, his mother left for Barbados at the invitation of a friend and never returned. She neither maintained contact with her children here.
The compilation said the offender lived with Lavern Albert, at Lot 93 Jarvis  Street, Rosignol and worked as a chauffeur and a mechanic at Number Six Village gas station, West Coast Berbice.
It said he actively contributed to their home and was very generous, according to Albert who was a security guard.
Choy reported that the couple built a house in Jarvis Street and Albert had volunteered to operate a liquor business started with the earnings of Bailey, a graduate of Linmine Technical Training School, who fathered two children with different women.
The compendium said, at the time the offence was committed, Bailey was living with Albert, whom he met when visiting a sick uncle at Number Five, another West Coast Berbice village but their relationship, which spanned four years, was not without conflict.

POSESSIVE PARTNER
According to Choy, investigations revealed that Bailey was somewhat a jealous and possessive partner, who found it hard to be trusting of his spouse, especially when it came to managing the bar and its patrons, most of whom she knew for a long time.
She said the couple’s quarrels were mostly verbal and involved money, which she gave  Bailey only when he asked.
He moved out of the home they shared at her insistence but still continued a visiting relationship.
Choy said Bailey’s attitude to the crime has presented a very contrite demeanour and he said, in hindsight, he should have evaded the relationship that seemed to deprive him of any belonging and joint ownership he felt he deserved.
In a plea of mitigation, Defence Counsel Michael Baird informed the Court that the 36-year-old convict had been incarcerated for four years and is willing to accept the legal consequences of his first infringement of the law.
The lawyer agreed the act was senseless and stupid but requested that justice be tempered with mercy.
Justice Patterson, summarising the report, mitigation and the evidence, said to the prisoner: “You stand to face the consequence of the senseless and stupid act. You fathered two children with two different mothers. You sought to have some quietness, some period of enjoyment with your lover, Lavern Albert but you were a boy in a man’s domain.
“You were treated like a bumper ball. You should have showed her your foot bottom and run but you did not do that. Be as it may, the punishment must be fit the crime. Why continue in a relationship which was one-sided. Where was the love in the relationship,” the judge wondered.
He continued: “Like a coward, you concealed yourself in a latrine waiting for your prey. The ultimate happened. A life has been lost. You ran having committed the crime when you should have ran earlier. You premeditated the murder which was a hideous and bastardly act. A limb is not broken. A life has been lost, nothing can bring her back. You have your life. The sentence of this Court is 13 years. Make good use of it.”
State Counsel Dionne Mc Cammon, who prosecuted in the case, told the jury that Nicholson died ‘within a year and a day’ of suffering the injuries and was pronounced dead on arrival at Fort Wellington Hospital.
She said the prisoner intended to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.