Grande man guilty of killing

Ronnel Cudjoe, of North-Eastern Settlement pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the basis of provocation. He was accused of stabbing Gonzalez to death on May 3, 2002 near a KFC Restaurant in Sangre Grande. Cudjoe appeared yesterday before Madame Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Criminal Court.

According to the State’s case, on May 3, 2002, Cudjoe left home with his sister and brother-in-law, to lime at New Wok pub in Sangre Grande. While near KFC, Cudjoe had an altercation with Gonzalez.

Cudjoe went inside KFC where he asked a friend to borrow his car keys. Cudjoe used the keys to enter his friend’s vehicle where he got a knife which he hid in his waist.

Cudjoe went back inside KFC to ask the friend to carry him home. As Cudjoe walked toward the exit of KFC, Gonzalez threw a bottle which missed the accused. Gonzalez and Cudjoe struggled with the knife and Cudjoe stabbed the deceased in the neck.

Cudjoe ran off to a friend to whom he confessed. When confronted by the police, the accused gave a written statement in his own handwriting, in which he admitted stabbing the deceased. According to a certificate of analysis by scientific officer Jenelle Charles, the deceased was intoxicated and had also used marijuana.

Attorney Wayne Sturge said Cudjoe in his earlier reluctance to accept a custodial sentence, did not wish to remain at Golden Grove Prison because of the level of violence at that prison. State attorney Kathy Ann Waterman-Latchoo said she had no objections to a sentence of 18 months imprisonment with hard labour. However, Sturge objected saying his client has been incarcerated since his arrest in 2002.

Sturge said the deprivation of Cudjoe’s liberty for four calendar years or six prison years would have served its purpose and brought to Cudjoe’s mind, the consequences of his actions.