Derek Achong
Senior Reporter
A 43-year-old man from Bourg Mulatresse has been convicted of murdering his girlfriend's brother and wounding her nephew during a fight in 2021.
Akeba Ayres was found guilty of murder and wounding with intent at the end of his judge-alone trial before Justice Nalini Singh on Monday.
In her written verdict, Justice Singh said: "Considering the totality of the evidence, I am therefore satisfied, so that I am sure of the guilt of the accused."
Ayres was accused of murdering 39-year-old Callis "Carlton" Gopaul and wounding Gopaul's nephew Shaquille on October 8, 2021.
The charges stemmed from an incident at a property in El Socorro that was shared by Gopaul and his siblings including one sister, Natalie, who was in a four year relationship with Ayres.
Ayres and Natalie went to a wake and returned to the property early the next morning.
Ayres had an argument with Gopaul during which he stabbed Gopaul with an ice pick. Shaquille attempted to intervene by "jump-kicking" Ayers but fell down and was stabbed twice.
Before collapsing due to his stab wounds, Gopaul picked up a length of iron and hit Ayres several times on his hand.
Ayres left after other relatives intervened.
He was arrested and charged almost a year later.
Shaquille and Gopaul's sister Angela were called as prosecution witnesses and Justice Singh ruled that their evidence over what transpired was credible.
"I therefore accept the evidence of Angela Gopaul and Shaquille Gopaul on the critical issue that the accused was the person who stabbed Carlton and that the stabbing occurred before any attack upon the accused by the other men in the yard," she said.
She also found that prosecutors proved that Ayres intended to kill Gopaul or cause him grievous bodily harm based on all the evidence before her.
"Having considered all of those matters both individually and cumulatively, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that, at the time he stabbed Callis Gopaul, the accused intended at the very least to cause him really serious bodily harm," she added.
In assessing whether Ayres was acting in self defence or was provoked, Justice Singh had to consider the evidence of Natalie, who claimed that he was attacked by her relatives, who made racist remarks, before he stabbed two of them.
"In assessing Natalie Gopaul’s evidence, I have not rejected it because of her personal relationship with the accused, nor because of the emotional circumstances in which she testified, but because, when tested against the accepted eyewitness evidence and the objective medical findings, I do not regard her construction of the stabbing as credible or reliable," she said.
Justice Singh also found that evidence that Ayres sought medical treatment after the incident did not prove that he was attacked before delivering the fatal wounds to Gopaul.
After deciding that Ayres was guilty of the offences, Justice Singh read the mandatory death penalty for Gopaul's murder.
"Accordingly, as required by law, the sentence of the Court upon you, Akeba Joseph Ayres, is that you shall be taken from this place to a lawful prison and thence to a place of Execution, and that you there suffer death by hanging," she said.
She ruled that Ayres served the sentence for wounding while awaiting trial.
Ayres was represented by Adaphia Trancoso-Ribeiro and Analisa Ramsaran, while Maria Lyons-Edwards, and Cassie Bisram led the team of prosecutors for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
