“God” jailed for violating “Thou shall not kill”

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

Elroy “God” Grenville who violated the Biblical Commandment- Thou Shall Not Kill- on Thursday escaped the hangman’s noose and was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment for killing a man during an altercation of cows.

A smiling Grenville walked out of the Berbice High Court back to jail saying “At least I ain’t get sentenced to death.”

His sentence by Justice Dawn Gregory came one day after he changed his plea from not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. He was accused of the murder of 49-year old Brentnol “Brent” Reynolds on June 9, 2007 on the Paradise Public Road, West Coast Berbice.

The High Court judge reduced the sentence from 25 years, taking into consideration six years for time he had already been incarcerated and another six for pleading guilty.

Defence Lawyer, Joel Persid-Edmond told the court that Grenville had been on remand for more than six years during which time he had faced five magistrates and four preliminary inquiries to determine whether he should have faced trial by a judge and jury or that there was insufficient evidence.

The prosecution’s case, in a nutshell, was that based on eyewitness accounts Grenville asked Reynolds how he could have said that he had tied up his cow. There was no fight but Grenville had a cutlass in his hand but instead he fired a chop to Reynolds’ neck.

Reynolds was rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

Grenville was arrested on June 10 in Wismar, Linden and charged and placed before the court.

The Berbice High Court was told that Grenville had reported to the Weldaad Police Station that Reynolds had alleged that he had caught three of his bulls and he was searching for him to kill him.

Grenville claimed that he first was attacked by a cutlass-wielding Reynolds and he retaliated by chopping his attacker to his face. He said that he dropped the cutlass and fled the scene.

The Defence Lawyer said Grenville had no previous convictions and that he was nicknamed God because since he was a child he was known for his good deeds.