At the Blairmont Court on Thursday, Magistrate Tejnarine Ramroop committed two men to stand trial for murder and manslaughter at the next sitting of the Berbice Assizes.
The men, Collin Bentick, 37, of No. 42 Village and Glynston Darlington, a cattle farmer of Ithaca, West Berbice, were facing separate charges for murder.
It is alleged that on October 31 at 12.15 pm, Bentick murdered Elon Shepherd, a clothes vendor at Seafield Village, West Coast Berbice. He was represented by attorney Mursaline Bacchus and would face trial at the New Amsterdam High Court for murder.
According to reports, Bentick, also called “Rastaman,” was said to have “tripped out,” chopped Shepherd about his body before kneeling beside him and “rubbing” the cutlass on his neck until it was completely severed.
Bentick then reportedly walked away calmly with the cutlass in his hand and stood in front of his house where he operated a grocery. Three police officers, who were passing in a car during the incident, were unable to prevent the man from chopping Shepherd.
The ranks drove to the Weldaad Police Station but by the time they returned Shepherd was already dead and headless. The police fired a few shots and Bentick raised his hands in the air and surrendered. The weapon was also recovered. Reports are that Shepherd, called “Fineman” and “Scarlon,” had been under an abandoned house with his assailant and a few other youths, moments before he was brutally hacked to death.
Police Prosecutor, Inspector Donna Grant-Fraser submitted to the court that a prima facie case had been made out against Bentick and the magistrate ruled in her favour.
In the case of Darlington, it is alleged that on September 6, 2008, at Ithaca Savannah, he murdered Marlon Fraser, a labourer at Porter’s Cattle Ranch. The court heard that Darlington, who allegedly used his licensed shotgun to commit the offence, claimed that the man was in the habit of beating his cows and that he [Fraser] had attacked him with a cutlass.
Darlington, who was represented by Kissoon & Associates, had also told the court that Fraser was killed after his gun accidently went off. He would stand trial for the lesser count of manslaughter. In her submissions, Prosecutor Grant-Fraser said she was relying on the evidence taken before the court.
