I saw this story fitting to post, because of some of the statements I read regarding not taking slap from a 12 year old.
Either way, somebody would have ended up with a manslaughter charge...right ? Hope is one of you all, because the youths certainly not taking lash from allyuh...
Boy, 13, guilty of manslaughter
By FRANCIS JOSEPH Saturday, May 19 2007
A 13-year-old boy pleaded guilty yesterday to killing a 14-year-old in what can be regarded as the fastest trial to reach the courts. The killing took place last December 18 and the trial was called in the Port-of-Spain High Court on May 18.
This prompted Justice Devan Rampersad to say, “five months, this is most impressive. Maybe, this is a sign of things to come in the criminal justice system.”
Justice Rampersad, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court, directed the media not to disclose the name of the convicted boy. He said nothing positive would come out by the media publishing the name of the boy, although he did acknowledge that the public has a right to know what goes on in the courts.
When the matter was called, the boy pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty of manslaughter. The facts were then read to the court.
Around 9 pm on December 18, 2006, the accused, who was 12 years old at the time, left his home at Upper Pashley Street, Laventille, to go to Miss Jill’s Shop on Trou Macque Road.
On his way there, he passed his sister and a neighbour sitting in front of his house. On arrival at the shop, he met Michael Forde, 14, and another youth. The youth approached the accused and slammed his head onto a nearby church wall.
The accused started to cry and said ‘I not taking that so, I fed up.” The accused ran home, went into the house and came back outside with a knife. He was still crying. He ran down Trou Macque hill towards Forde and the youth.
The accused jumped into a culvert and after an exchange of words with Forde, stabbed him in the heart. Forde got up and ran a short distance before he collapsed.
Forde was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he died. A post-mortem conducted the following day revealed that Forde died as a result of a stab wound to the heart.
After the stabbing, the accused met his mother who took away the knife. The woman took her son to the Besson Street Police Station.
On December 19, the police interviewed the accused in the presence of his mother. They recorded a statement in which the accused admitted the stabbing.
Defence attorney Patrick Godson-Phillips commended the judiciary and the office of the DPP for the expeditious manner in which the case was brought to trial.
“I am pleased to see that the wheels of justice spin in a certain way.” Godson-Phillips asked for a probation officer’s report and for the accused to be released in the custody of his grandmother pending sentence. “He has already undergone trauma..his relatives too. The community where the accused and the deceased come from has had a sympathetic view of this case.”
State attorney Jeron Joseph, who accepted the manslaughter plea, said this was a case of provocation.
He had no objections to the accused being released in the care of his gradmother who was allowed to sit at the bar table.
Godson-Phillips also commended the investigating officer, acting Cpl Larry Lodhar for working tirelessly during the Christmas holidays on this case.
In the end, Justice Rampersad ordered that the accused be kept at the Youth Training Centre at Arouca pending sentence on May 31. He also ordered a probation officer’s report, a medical report, a school report, and a psychiatric evaluation to be done on the accused.
The accused joined a list of young offenders who were guilty of killings - Chuck Attin (25 years), Leroy Andrews (28 years), Ria Rampersad (four years), Otis Melville (23 years), Sean Alleyne (20 years), and Philbert Foster.
