80-year-old Gordon Leslie Durant has been sentenced to another four years behind bars for the killing of his wife Joan, whom he buried in an unfinished bathroom at their Melanie North, East Coast Demerara home 10 years ago.
The seemingly apologetic Durant said that he was sorry for what he had done, that it never should have happened and as he begged for leniency; told Justice Jo-Ann Barlow that if only he could have, “I would ah bring her back to life.”
In a seeming bid nonetheless to provide an explanation for his actions on the fateful day, Durant who told the court that he loved and misses his wife said “she attacked me; she cuffed me to my face and throw me down on the ground.”
The elderly man would then go on to beg the Judge for a “second chance” so that he could live a peaceful life in his community with his grandchildren and sons.
Joan’s son Osafo London in his address to the court, however, asked that his mother’s killer be visited with the maximum penalty.
“I want him to spend the rest of his life in jail,” the man said.
Meanwhile, his eldest brother, Gregory Perreira, in his impact statement recalled the close bond he shared with his mother, and spoke of the anger and trauma with which he is still plagued, after finding her body in the shallow grave.
He said that while he knows his mother’s life cannot be restored, a fact with which he has to live for the rest of his life, he wants justice for her, as she did not deserve to die in the manner she did.
Attorney Dexter Smartt who represented Durant said there is no doubt that a life was lost and that the deceased did not deserve the end she met, especially at the hands of her own husband.
The lawyer in his mitigating plea however, underscored that his client had accepted responsibility for his actions, wanted to bring closure to the woman’s family; but said that importantly he was sorry.
He said that he also did not want to waste the court’s time, and asked further that his previous unblemished record and “good character in the community,” be considered.
In her sentencing remarks, Justice Barlow underscored the domestic violence at play, which she said involved a number of “unfortunate circumstances,” which ultimately led to the death of the woman.
But also unfortunate the Judge said, was that it took an entire decade before the case was finally dispensed with.
At his arraignment earlier this month, Durant admitted that it was he who had killed his wife.
He was originally indicted for the murder.
He, however, pleaded not guilty to the capital charge; but guilty to manslaughter; accepting that between June 26th and 28th, 2012, he unlawfully killed 50-year-old Joan Durant.
Referencing the prosecution’s case, Justice Barlow noted that the only piece of evidence as to how the woman met her demise came from the offender who said that his wife wanted to go visit her mother, but he wished otherwise.
Reading from the file, the Judge said an argument ensued, during which Durant hugged the woman, who in turn slapped him.
The court heard that Durant then returned a slap to the woman who ran from him, falling and hitting her neck on a concrete block that was in the unfinished area in the room.
In his caution statement to police, Durant said that acting out of fear of the consequences of her dead body being found, he buried her in the unfinished area; and thereafter lied about where she really was.
Justice Barlow said that the Court accepted the plea to manslaughter since, upon the examination of the statement of the offender which she said was the only evidence available, “manslaughter was disclosed.”
She noted, too, that the autopsy report “could not shed light on any matter not raised” by Durant in his caution statement; while noting that it also did not refute the account given by him.
After highlighting all the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case, and after referencing case law authorities, the Judge commenced sentence at a base of 21 years from which she then deducted 10 years 2 months and 17 days for the time had so far spent behind bars.
Further, a one-third deduction was made for the offender’s guilty plea.
The 50–year-old deceased was discovered buried in an unfinished bathroom at the couple’s home.
Her body was discovered by the police several days after she went missing.
Durant had initially told investigators that his wife had packed a bag and walked out of the house on the afternoon of Tuesday June 26th, 2012.
However, the woman’s relatives did not believe him and they subsequently lodged a missing person’s report and launched a search for her.
Police investigators revisited the family’s home two days later after relatives informed that a stench was coming from the house.
The woman’s body was subsequently discovered buried in sand in the unfinished structure.
