Facing murder retrial, man pleads guilty to manslaughter of stepson

Murder accused Albert Campbell who had appealed against his conviction and death sentence and had subsequently faced a retrial  which was aborted last week, pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter at the Berbice Assizes yesterday.

The plea was accepted by State Counsel Dionne Mc Cammon

Following an arraignment  yesterday morning, Defence Counsel Charrandas Persaud  informed Justice Brassington Reynolds that his client would like to adopt a certain course.

Following his not guilty plea to the murder indictment, but guilty to the lesser count, the judge ordered a probation report and sentencing has been set for  August 5.

On July 21,  the stepson murder retrial was aborted after the judge  was informed that a  juror faced an indictable  charge of indecent assault.

Campbell aka Sobers was accused of the unlawful killing of his twenty-year-old stepson Travis Cleon Fraser, called Black Boy, as he lay asleep in his home at Liverpool Village, Corentyne, on January 22, 2004.

Campbell was found guilty during a jury trial before Justice Winston Patterson  and was sentenced to death but  he appealed the conviction  and a retrial was ordered by the Appeal Court.