Man gets 16 years for killing ‘child mother’, attempted murder of teen
Paul Scotland was on Tuesday handed two sentences for fatally stabbing to death the mother of his three children, Monica Adams at her mother’s Paradise, East Coast Demerara (ECD) home and for wounding the woman’s brother, Charles Elliot, on January 3, 2014.
Justice Navindra Singh sentenced him to 16 years after he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Scotland reportedly killed the woman by attacking and stabbing her several times about the body.
The court heard that he had gone to the home and saw her with another man and as such, summoned her outside. She refused and the offender grabbed her by the hair and dragged her into the backyard.
When her younger brother, then 16-year-old Charles Elliott intervened by lashing Scotland with a shower rod to stop the attack, he turned on the young man and also stabbed him once before fleeing the scene.
The offender’s lawyer, Dexter Todd told the court that his client was in his 20s when the killing took place.
Todd claimed that the couple shared a “warm relationship” which bore three children. He added that his client has exhibited good behaviour and was even selected as an orderly in prison. Prosecutor Gibbs petitioned for a sentence reflecting the nature and gravity of the offence.
According to reports, Scotland and Adams had shared a rocky relationship and relatives had stated that he refused to allow the woman to cut ties, reportedly promising to kill her.
During his sentencing on Tuesday, he apologised for what had happened, saying he acted out of frustration when he saw her with someone else.
“It was out of frustration by coming and witnessing her with another man … I beg for mercy. Charles, I never meant what happened,” he said. In handing down the sentence, Justice Singh told Scotland that he reacted badly and that he should have walked away. The Judge, however, noted that upon his release, the offender can be an asset to society.
Both sentences will run concurrently; however, the Prison Service will deduct the five years the accused spent on remand awaiting trial.