‘Dougla’ pleads guilty to killing wife

Godfrey Stewart, called ‘Dougla’, who was accused of murdering his common-law wife Jacqueline George, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter when the murder trial started yesterday in the High Court, before Justice Franklyn Holder.

Stewart was charged with murder, but his guilty plea to the lesser count was allowed yesterday.

Stewart’s sentencing was postponed because of the defence’s

Jacqueline George
Jacqueline George

application for a probation report to be presented to the court.

Justice Holder accepted the application. Stewart is now expected to be sentenced on March 3.

Stewart was charged with the murder of George, a newspaper vendor, in 2010, after her bound body was found in her 120 ‘E’ Field Sophia home between March 13 and 14. The home had been set on fire.

It is alleged that Stewart killed George on March 11 and subsequently went into hiding.

Days later, he turned himself in to the police displaying three stab wounds which he claimed were inflicted by George during a fight, shortly before she was killed. He was then admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Attorneys Bettina Glasford, Brandon Glasford, and Maxwell McKay appeared for the accused, while Senior State Counsel Judith Gildharie-Mursalin is representing the state.