A man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to stabbing a man in an alleged case of mistaken identity.
On August 20, Sheldon Coryat entered into a plea agreement with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
The agreement was subsequently approved by High Court Judge Norton Jack on Thursday.
Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutor Veonna Neale-Munroe and Coryat lawyer Michelle Ali, of the Public Defenders Department, agreed that 12 years in prison was an appropriate starting point for him and a one-third discount for his guilty plea should be applied.
Coryat is expected to be released from prison in one and a half years as the time he spent on remand before he entered into the agreement was deducted from his sentence.
According to the agreed summary of facts in the case, prepared following consultation between prosecutors and Coryat’s defence team, Coryat attacked the victim, Ricardo George, of La Horquetta, Arima, on September 22, 2014.
George, 32, a scrap iron salvager near the Guanapo Landfill, had just visited a shop near his workplace and was walking towards his girlfriend’s home when he was attacked.
Coryat stabbed George once in the stomach and ran away. George claimed that Coryat was briefly stopped by residents, who told him (Coryat) that he had attacked the wrong man.
George’s intestines were left exposed through the wound and he remained warded in hospital for two weeks after undergoing a colostomy.
He also had to wear a colostomy bag until he eventually passed away in 2016.
Coryat surrendered to police the following month and was charged with wounding with intent.