– jailed for nine years
After pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, murder accused Brian Williams called ‘BV man’ was sentenced to nine years imprisonment by Justice Winston Patterson in the High Court yesterday.
Twenty-eight-year-old Williams was accused of killing his friend, 15-year-old Sunil Samsudeen, at Vive La Force on the West Coast Demerara on March 25, 2005.

Brian Williams

The two had been drinking together all night and on their way home a fight ensued over Samsudeen taking Williams’s gold chain. The next day Samsudeen was found in a trench with his head stuck in the mud. He had drowned and marks of violence were on his body. A post-mortem examination showed that Samsudeen had died of asphyxiation due to submission under water, compounded injuries to the neck and blunt trauma to the head.

In court yesterday, a probation report was read by Probation Officer Grace Roberts and then Williams’s attorney Peter Hugh addressed the court. Both the defence attorney and State Prosecutor Fabayo Azore accepted the facts in the report, which said that Williams came from a poor background, lost his father at an early age and had to drop out of school to help his mother take care of his siblings. Despite his lack of formal education he managed to eke out a living by doing all sorts of odd jobs before taking up a post with GuySuCo.

Addressing the court, Hugh referred to the caution statement taken at the time Williams was arrested in which he stated that Samsudeen had taken his hard-earned gold chain and a fight had resulted after his attempts to get it back.

The attorney said Williams was not right to cause the death of his friend and regretted that dearly, but Samsudeen had tried to take something from him after he had worked hard for it. Hugh urged the court to take into consideration that Williams pleaded guilty at the onset of his trial and did not waste the court’s time and prior to that he had co-operated fully with the police, telling them exactly what had happened.
He said that the young man was extremely sorry for what had happened and prior to that he had no previous clashes with the police. Hugh asked the court to be lenient and afford his client an opportunity “to make a meaningful contribution to society.”

Justice Patterson quoted parts of the probation report, which stated that Williams had left his family’s home because they had complained about his behaviour after consuming alcohol. He went to live with his stepbrother, but was “put out” because of the same behaviour. Justice Patterson said Williams had ample time to change his behaviour, and should not have allowed alcohol to impair his judgment and cause him to kill his friend.

The judge asked the man what type of alcohol he used to consume and Williams replied, “five-year-old rum.”

The judge said that all the shots of five-year-old would have multiplied and told Williams that although he was sorry for what he had done, a life was lost and he must do time for his actions. “There is still good in you… and it will be good to have… a time away from the spirits in the bottle,” the judge said.
Williams bowed his head as he was escorted out of the court.