Man gets 10 years for killing taxi driver during robbery

Twenty-three-year-old Shawn Collins was on Tuesday sentenced to 10 years in prison for the January 2014 unlawful killing of Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD) taxi driver Raphael Campbell.

Collins, who was initially charged with the capital offence of murder, opted to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The sentence was handed down by Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Demerara. Collins was jointly charged with former Police Constable Shawn Edinboro and Michael Bishop for the heinous crime. A date is yet to be set for Edinboro’s and Bishop’s court hearing.
It was reported that the trio murdered 30-year-old Campbell between January 2 and January 3, 2014. Reports are that on January 2, 2020, Campbell picked up a few male passengers at Camp Street, Georgetown and took them to a village on the East Coast of Demerara, where he was robbed and slain.
His body was found the next day.
Police had stated that Edinboro, Bishop, Collins and some other men were stopped at a roadblock on the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. They were found in a motor car that was stolen from Campbell.
During the sentence hearing, State Prosecutor Tyra Bakker said that Collins’ killing was a senseless and cowardly act. The Prosecutor pointed out that the taxi driver was killed while plying his trade, leaving a family behind to mourn.
The Prosecutor urged the court that the sentence should be one that reflected the nature and gravity of the crime and served as a deterrent to others from committing such an offence.
“A message should be sent to youths that they should not succumb to peer pressure,” Bakker added.
In the end, Justice Singh sentenced Collins to 10 years in prison and ordered that the prison authorities deduct the time he spent in pre-trial custody.