Swan man gets 10 years’ jail time for killing Timehri teen

Rickland Bovell has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in relation to the death of 18-year-old David Toney, whom he admitted to stabbing to death.
The 25-year-old cabbage farmer of Swan Village, Soesdyke-Linden Highway, had the sentence imposed on him on Monday by Justice Jo Ann Barlow at the Demerara High Court.
Bovell had come before the Judge in November 2023, having been indicted with Toney’s murder which took place on April 19, 2019. However, instead of a trial, he chose to enter a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter. He also acknowledged his guilt to the other accusation, which stated that he had injured Mark Toney, David’s father, on the same day.

During Bovell’s sentencing hearing on Monday, the presiding Judge decided that he would spend 10 years in prison for killing the teen and six years on the wounding charge.
The 10-year and six-year jail terms will run concurrently.
In addition, Justice Barlow gave the Prison Service instructions to subtract from Bovell’s sentence whatever time he was held in pre-trial custody.
It was reported that on the day in question, Toney, of Alliance Road, Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD), was fatally stabbed while his father and stepmother were injured during a brawl with a group of men at the Timehri Docks, EBD.
Guyana Times had reported that the now dead teen and his stepmother, Judieth Hosea, intervened in a fight between his father, Mark, and a group of men, who were reportedly drunk.

Hosea had related that the fight stemmed from an argument over who would pack their truck with cabbages. She said after the argument broke out, one of the men attacked her husband and a scuffle ensued.
It was then, Hosea added, that she and her now dead stepson intervened to make peace but they too were attacked by the group of drunk men.
The woman recalled feeling a sharp object inserted into her left shoulder followed by another on her left hip. She then retreated but saw the group of men hitting the teenager about his body.
According to Hosea, she did not know David Toney was being stabbed until he ran a short distance away from the attackers and collapsed.
He was stabbed at least three times, twice to his abdomen and once to the chest. Upon his arrival at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre, David was declared dead by doctors.
In August 2019, four months after Bovell was charged, a Magistrate determined that there was enough evidence to have him stand trial by jury before a Judge for the teen’s murder. (G1)