Guyanese man who murdered British teen gets life sentence
A High Court judge Friday sentenced a man to death, telling him he was “unfit to dwell among human beings” after being found guilty of murdering an 18-year-old British teenager who had arrived here in Guyana on October 14, 2015.
Justice Sandil Kissoon imposed the death penalty on Aaron Hing, who had denied killing Dominic Bernard on the same day he had arrived in the country.
The 12-member jury took almost two hours to reach the guilty verdict against Hing, who told the Court, “all I have to say is to God be the glory” following the ruling.
The Court heard that Bernard was killed on October 14, 2015, at Kildonan Village, Corentyne, East Berbice. He was due to return to Britain on November 5, 2015.
The dead man’s mother, Linden Bernard, in an address to the Court, called out Hing for his “lowlife cowardly act”, adding, “We trusted you, we opened our hearts and home for you.
“You are a fool and liar for thinking you could have gotten away with this…I want you to wake every day in your prison cell thinking about what you did,” she said.
Her husband, Andrew Bernard, told Hing that he was “the main architect and premeditator behind this brutal crime… you’re a liar, a coward, and a murder.
“As they say, if you’re prepared to do the crime, you must do time,” he said, adding that his young daughter is still haunted by the traumatic memories of her brother’s death. The Bernards are Hing’s godparents.
Justice Kissoon, who described the gruesome and savage manner in which Bernard was killed, told Hing: “you’re unfit to dwell among ordinary human beings”.
Last month, Hing had opted to plead guilty to his crime, but Justice Kissoon did not accept the plea due to the accused not accepting the prosecution facts that he was the mastermind behind the teen’s death.
His co-accused Staymon George last month pleaded guilty to the capital offence of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 35 years.
Hing’s child mother Krystol Thomas, her mother Sinfine Henry, and his friend, Jahmil Sinclair are currently awaiting trial for the offence of accessory to murder in connection with the incident.
On January 8, 2016, the badly decomposed body of the teen was found in a shallow grave in the backlands of Nurney Village. A DNA sample taken from the body was tested against Dominic’s father, and they matched.
Hing and George were arrested soon afterwards, and they later admitted that they picked up the teenager from the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and on their way to Berbice, they stopped along Sheriff Street, where they ate and drank a few beers.
A post-mortem performed on the body revealed that the British teenager was struck at the back of the head; he sustained a fractured skull and a broken neck.
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