Days after a 19-year-old miner was stabbed and killed with an arrow to the abdomen, allegedly at the hands of his intoxicated boss, the accused was this afternoon charged and remanded to prison for the crime.
Thirty-one-year-old David Smith was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated that on March 22, 2019 at Black Water Backdam, in the Cuyuni River, he murdered his employee and cousin, Dave Boyal, 19.
The unrepresented man appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Facts presented by Police Prosecutor Gordon Mansfield stated that Smith and Boyal, who are also cousins, were at a camp when an argument ensued between them at around 22:00 hrs.
This was after Smith entered the camp and began to cut down the hammocks the workers were in.
Boyal then tried to persuade his cousin to stop and, during that intervention, the man picked up an arrow and reportedly fatally stabbed the teen.
The injured teen was rushed to the Bartica Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Magistrate, after listening to the facts, remanded Smith to prison until April 10, 2019 when he will appear in the Bartica Magistrate’s Courts.
