Man fined, counselling ordered after threatening to kill wife

Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson ordered a man who threatened to kill his reputed wife to pay a fine and to undergo six months of counselling when he appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.

Carl Welcome, 36, a surveyor of Lot 32 Ogle Front, East Coast Demerara pleaded guilty with an explanation to a threatening language charge when he appeared in court on Monday. He admitted that he had used threatening language to his reputed wife Cleopatra Samuels on May 11.

Welcome’s lawyer told the court that on the said day the man arrived home after spending three days in the hinterland area on business and upon entering the house that he had rented with Samuels discovered “all his assets gone.” He said “my client arrived at an emptied house and his wife was also gone” and that he had tried to telephone the woman to no avail. The lawyer then said that Welcome became “frustrated and confused” and had left a voicemail on the woman’s phone threatening to kill her.
In his defence Welcome told the court, “I didn’t mean it.”

The magistrate then called the parties to the bench where a lengthy discussion ensued. A probation officer also attended the proceedings. She then ordered Welcome to pay a fine of $8,000 and to attend counselling for six months or serve the alternative of six months imprisonment.