20-year-old Christopher Cheong, this morning pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing James Stewart, who he beat to death with a hammer. Cheong was arraigned before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Demerara where he was indicted on a murder charge.
He, however, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, thereby admitting that between July 16 and 17, 2016, he unlawfully killed Stewart called ‘Buby’. State Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy and Nafeeza Baig presented the facts of the case.
According to them, on July 17, 2016 at about 02:00hrs, Cheong, while intoxicated went to his cousin’s home at David Rose Street, Bagotville, West Bank Demerara.
It was there that he picked up a hammer and went in search of Stewart at Unity Street, La Grange, West Bank Demerara. There, Cheong dealt Stewart, 49, a lash to his head with a hammer. Thereafter, he returned to his cousin’s home and told him he had killed someone; his clothing was bloody and he was holding a hammer.
At around 05:00hrs the said morning, Stewart was discovered by police lying in a pool of blood at Unity Street, La Grange, in pool of blood. His cause of death was given as cerebral haemorrhage due to multiple blunt trauma to the head compounded by broncho-aspiration of the blood.
In the meantime, Cheong was remanded to prison pending sentencing which is scheduled for April 20, 2020. He was only 16 when he committed the crime.
