…almost served out sentence
Dwayne Morgan of Blairmont, West Bank Berbice, who in 2017 had been found guilty of chopping his neighbour Randholl Bissondat, called “Katcha” and “Kempton”, of Lot B18 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, and had been sentenced to nine years’ jail, on Wednesday withdrew an application to appeal his sentence for felonious wounding in the Court of Appeal.
Since that sentencing, the 44-year-old Morgan had been in prison awaiting the hearing of his appeal, and when his appeal came up for hearing on Wednesday, the unrepresented Morgan indicated his desire to withdraw the matter, citing that he has almost completed serving his sentence.
After his request was granted, he proceeded to ask the court if he was free to go, but Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who was part of the three-member Bench, advised the convict that the prison authorities are the ones who have to commute his sentence.
In this matter, the State was represented by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Dionne McCammon.
Morgan, who had initially been indicted for attempting to commit murder, had instead been convicted of the lesser offence of felonious wounding by a jury before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow.
On the day in question, Tuesday, February 17, 2015, at Bath, WCB, Morgan and Bissondat, who are both businessmen, were driving separate trucks around the Bath area. At about 20:14hrs, they both tried to turn into a street, coming from different directions. However, the street had a heap of sand, thus making it impossible for the two trucks to pass at the same time.
There was a near collision as both men tried to force their way through, and an altercation subsequently ensued, during which Morgan allegedly inflicted several chops on Bissondat, resulting in him receiving several wounds and other injuries to his head, left hand, and about his body. Morgan was subsequently arrested and charged with attempted murder.
Following a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court, the presiding Magistrate had ruled that sufficient evidence had been led by the prosecution to put Morgan on trial for the crime. Accordingly, he had been committed to stand trial at the Berbice Criminal Assizes.
