Freeman St man gets life sentence for killing spouse

A man who stabbed his reputed wife of several years to death was slapped with a sentence of life imprisonment with no possibility of parole before 35 years.
Jermaine Bristol, 38, an ex-Policeman, of Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, pleaded guilty to murdering Shanece Lawrence, 24, on August 22, 2018.
The custodial sentence was imposed on him on Tuesday by Justice Sandil Kissoon.
It was reported that after killing Lawrence, Bristol walked into the East La Penitence Police Station and confessed to the crime. He then led the Police to his dwelling where the woman’s body was discovered with a knife stuck in the neck.
An autopsy revealed that Lawrence was stabbed 10 times about the body. It was reported that the couple shared a rocky relationship spanning some seven years.
During Bristol’s sentencing hearing, he begged the dead woman’s family for forgiveness and the court, for leniency. The weeping man, who appeared in court virtually from prison, said, “I am begging the deceased family for forgiveness for the pain I have caused them. I’m not such a bad person. I am begging from my heart for forgiveness and leniency. I changed my ways and my attitude; I’m a child of God…”
According to him, he loved Lawrence dearly and in no way intended to kill her. A tearful Bristol claimed that his actions have left him “heartbroken”, since he and the now-dead woman had planned on getting married, cementing a shared loving relationship.
He told the court that he became enraged after he returned home from work and found his partner in a compromising position with another man in their home.
Lawrence’s mother, father, and brother told the court that they were still grieving and that their family would never be the same.
In his remarks, Justice Kissoon alluded to the instances of intimate partner murders, which, according to him, continue to escalate rapidly in Guyana.
The victims, he noted, are wives, mothers, and daughters. But what is common in each instance is that these women are viciously attacked by men they trust, Justice Kissoon said, adding that “it appears as if women must sacrifice their lives to raise a family”.
Directing his comments at Bristol, the Judge told him that he appeared to believe that he has some right to inflict this measure of pain and suffering, not only on another human but on a woman who had spent seven years as his partner.
“You left a knife embedded in the right-side neck of your spouse… a helpless and unarmed victim,” Justice Kissoon stated as he recounted the facts of the case. Given the degree of injuries Lawrence sustained, the Judge said it was clear that Bristol intended to kill her.
Given the horror of the murder, the Judge, in citing a plethora of case law, explained that the crime demanded the more severe end of punishment, which is an indeterminate sentence, where no deduction is given for the accused’s plea before trial.
In the end, Bristol was sentenced to life for what Justice Kissoon described as a “calculated and brutal” act of murder in which “immeasurable cruelty” was meted out to the woman. He becomes eligible for parole after 35 years.
It was further ordered that the wife killer be credited for time spent in pre-trial detention and that he underwent all training and counselling offered by the prison to aid in his rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
Defence counsel Everton Lammy-Singh represented Bristol while State Counsel Muntaz Ali presented the prosecution’s case. The case was heard at the High Court in Demerara. In 2016, Bristol, a then Police Special Constable, was sentenced to 60 months in prison and fined $30,000 after being convicted on a charge of conspiracy to traffic cocaine.
He had appealed his conviction and sentence, but later withdrew the matter. It was reported that Bristol and a Woman Special Constable, who was attached to the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD), conspired with persons unknown on November 17, 2014, to traffic in narcotics.