Murderer of a Cuban in Guyana sentenced to 16 years in prison

A Guyana court sentenced one of the Cuban's murderers to 16 years in prisonOfredis Duarte Campos, 35 years old, in February 2020, in the capital Georgetown.

Duarte, father of two girls, was shot to death on the morning of February 20, 2020, after resisting being robbed by two criminals, when he was on his way to work as a butcher at the Rossignol butcher shop, located on Church Street.

According to police reports cited byGuyanese media, around 6:44 a.m. That day, the Cuban was walking along Cummings Street, between Middle and Quamina streets, when two men approached him on a motorcycle and tried to snatch his backpack.

The official report then indicated that Duarte confronted the two subjects and refused to let them take his belongings.One of them pulled out a gun and shot him several times before fleeing..

The Cuban was left lying on the street and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

For the murder of Duarte, the accusedPatrick Felix Smith, 28 years old, received a16 year prison sentence after appearing this Tuesday before Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall and pleading guilty to a charge of capital murder, they reportedlocal media. The lawyer considered that the sentence was appropriate for the crime.

Smith was the driver of the motorcycle. According to reports, the other occupant of the vehicle, after a physical altercation, was the one who pulled out a gun and shot the victim three times in the body, before fleeing.

Police later confirmed thatThe Cuban had suffered gunshot wounds to the upper chest, right wrist and under the chin..

The press mediaThey do not mention whether the person who fired the shots was detained by the authorities and they have not revealed his identity either..

In apost a Facebook from the newspaperGuyana Daily News, Guyanese reacted dissatisfied with the sentence, which they consider to be inconsistent with the seriousness of the crime, and questioned the fact that no reference was made to the direct perpetrator of the crime.

"What's going on? "Is that justice?" questioned several of the users in the publication, who made strong criticisms of the country's judicial system.

Duarte was originally from Bejucal, in the province of Mayabeque, and had two young daughters with his partner Anisley Díaz. After his murder, an uncle told the portalKaieteur News that his nephew had left his home, on East Street, just 20 minutes before he received the call in which he was notified of his murder.

“He left the house to go to work and then I get a call saying he was robbed and killed. When I arrived at the place, I saw him on the ground covered in blood. “He was dead,” he declared.

“When I saw the body, he had gunshot wounds on his right wrist, upper chest and under his chin. "I couldn't survive that," he said.

Duarte's uncle, whose name was not released, said his nephew was a hard worker and would not allow anyone to bully him.