“This is a senseless act he must pay for”- Justice Singh before jailing murderer for 56 years
50-year-old Foster Gravesande, who was on trial for the April 09, 2017 murder of his neighbour, was on Thursday sentenced to 56 years in prison for the crime. The sentence was handed down by Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Demerara. The murder convict was represented by lawyer Dexter Todd.
Gravesande of Jonestown, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge. In the end, he was found guilty by a jury of murdering his 49-year-old neighbour, Courtney Porter, a father of three.
Begging the court for mercy, the murder convict said: “I’m begging for mercy. I apologize to the family of the deceased. I’m not a bad person. The only bad thing about me is that I like plenty women. It is so unfortunate that I am facing a murder charge for my true friend, but his wife does not appreciate me. I’m having sleepless nights because of this incident.” For his part, Justice Singh told Gravesande that he was not remorseful, “You cannot be truly remorseful unless you accept what you did. This man [Gravesande] comes into the court, swears on the Bible and then lies to me.”
In the end, Justice Singh underscored: “This is a senseless act…he must pay for.” The murder convict only become eligible for parole until after serving a minimum of 28 years behind bars. During his trial, several witnesses testified on behalf of the Prosecution led by State Counsel Teriq Mohammed. One of them was Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh who gave Porter’s cause of death as brain haemorrhage due to blunt force trauma.
It was previously reported Gravesande had accused Porter of pulling his wife’s clothing. As such, the two men were involved in a fight during which Gravesande dealt Porter several blows to the head with a piece of wood. Following the attack, Porter was hospitalized and discharged. Police had initially charged Gravesande with attempt to commit murder, but after Porter died, the charge against him was upgraded to murder.
