Former prison warder, Sheldon Prince, who pleaded guilty to stabbing his wife to death on December 28, 2016 at the National Psychiatric Hospital, was yesterday sentenced to life in prison by Justice Sandil Kissoon who told him that the crime went beyond a case of domestic violence, stating, “it is a cold, calculated act of callous, gruesome premeditated murder carefully planned and violently executed.”
Prince, 36, of Lot 40 Stanleytown, New Amsterdam, Berbice, was charged with murdering his wife, Lonette Nicholson-Prince, 23, at the psychiatric hospital in Fort Canje, Berbice. He was committed to stand trial following the completion of a preliminary inquiry at the magistrate’s court. However, when he appeared last month before Justice Kissoon at the High Court in Berbice, Prince, who was represented by attorney-at-law, Murseline Bacchus, opted to enter a guilty plea.
Before sentencing yesterday, Prince told the court that he loved Lonette and never intended to hurt her. He claimed that he became frustrated and mentally bothered after he was told that Lonette was having an affair.
Justice Kissoon in sentencing Prince yesterday, told him that domestic violence continues to reign prevalent and rampages through every stratum of society leaving in its wake a trail of cruel, harsh consequences ranging from permanent disfigurement to killing.
He observed that Lonette – a young mother – acted to escape the violence meted out to her by the accused during the relationship, noting that the woman sought the assistance of the court and obtained a protection order.
However, Justice Kissoon then reminded that the accused had armed himself with a deadly weapon and went to her workplace notwithstanding his knowledge of the order. He detailed the extent of the wounds and noted that Lonette “sought to defend herself to live another day, to escape you and to see your young child, her young child, grow before her…”
The judge also pointed out, that in his persistence to bring about the murder of Lonette, the accused turned his attention to everyone who rushed to her assistance during the attack.
“This crime goes beyond the case of domestic violence, it is a cold, calculated act of callous, gruesome premeditated murder carefully planned and violently executed.”
Mention was also made of a phone call, which was highlighted in the probation report, that Prince made to his daughter before the attack telling her that he would be going away as such she would not see him for a very long time. This prompted the judge to add that the accused seemingly laid blame on everyone other than himself.
He then sentenced Prince to life in prison with the possibility of parole after completing 30 years. He also ordered that Prince benefits from all possible remedial training and anger management classes to assist his integration back into society after completing his sentence.
Lonette, 23, of Lot 11 Levi Dam, Angoy’s Avenue, New Amsterdam, a hairdresser at the Psychiatric Hospital, had just arrived at work on the day in question, when Prince, who at the time was a prison warder at the Mazaruni Prison, launched the attack.
State Prosecutor, Abigail Gibbs, in presenting the state’s case following the plea, had said that Lonette, a mother of a three-year-old, proceeded to her workplace not knowing that would have been her last day at work, “more so, her last day on earth.”
On that fateful morning around 8 am, after Lonette proceeded to a location in the National Psychiatric Hospital, a colleague (an eyewitness) proceeded behind her after noticing how she appeared to be. “The door to this room was pushed in but it was not secured with a lock,” Gibbs disclosed.
Then at about 8.30 am, the accused rushed into the room and demanded to speak with the woman. “The accused collected a chair and placed it next to Lonette, he then asked the deceased ‘wah a tell you?’ and she did not respond.” Lonette’s colleague who was still in the room at the time observed that “something was wrong and that Lonette, according to her, was looking cold,” as such she encouraged Lonette to step outside.
However, when Lonette got up the accused told her, “let’s us talk,” but she replied that there was nothing to talk about, while chiding him, “is so you does push and come in?”
Gibbs said that the “…accused at that time pulled a ‘shine’ blade measuring about a foot in length from his pants waist and proceeded to stab Lonette in her upper chest.”
The colleague started to scream causing the accused to rush over to her but she ran through the door in search of help. After the screams, another staffer ran into the room where he too was confronted by the accused causing him to rush to another room for safety.
The accused subsequently escaped after which the police were informed. On the following day, he turned himself over to the police.
According to Gibbs, the woman’s cause of death was given as shock and haemorrhage and stab wounds to the heart. The court also heard that the woman sustained 15 stab injuries, as Gibbs listed the details of each wound.
The prosecutor also stressed that at the time of the incident, Lonette had a restraining order preventing the accused from making contact with her.
Before yesterday’s sentencing, Lonette’s father, Michael Nicholson, read a victim impact statement from Lonette’s older brother, Jason Nicholson, which noted that his sister would often complain to him about Prince. He said he would have spoken to Prince on numerous occasions and he (Prince) would apologize and promise to change but would continue to abuse his sister.
This state of affairs, he said, forced his sister to return to her mother’s house after it became overbearing. He recalled, that when he received news about the incident he rushed to the location where he saw his sister in a “pool of blood.”
“Your honour I need justice, her family needs justice, let the full force of the law be brought down on his life… No one can’t comfort us… We can only look to you, judge, deliver your verdict so we can find solace and move on with our lives”, the brother asked in his statement.
