Patricia Alves guilty of manslaughter
Shallow-grave accused not guilty of murder
AFTER a nine-day trial at which nine witnesses testified, accused in the Alberttown shallow grave murder trial, Patricia Alves, was last night found not guilty of murder but guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter.

Patricia Alves leaves the Court last night after being found guilty of manslaughter

Trial Judge, Justice of Appeal Ms. Claudette Singh, accepted an application from defence Counsel Mr. Nigel Hughes to postpone sentence to next Wednesday, to await a probation report and a mitigation in relation to sentence.

State Prosecutor Miss Faith Mc Gusty had set out to prove that Alves, a self-styled spiritualist, had beaten her house guest Kamille Seenauth to death, on February 15, 2002, with the belief that she was beating a demon from the body of the sick woman. Mc Gusty said that the accused then buried the body in a shallow grave in her backyard.

The accused, who had pleaded not guilty, denied the killing in an unsworn statement from the dock and told the jury about a strange coincidence after returning home from a thanksgiving service in Berbice, when she unwittingly walked on soft mud, and discovered the body of her friend which was buried in a shallow grave by someone unknown.

Justice Singh summed up the evidence in five hours yesterday. The jury took over three hours to reach its unanimous verdict, though it returned to the court room at least three times for further directions as to the difference between murder and manslaughter.

The Judge dealt adequately with the further directions resulting in the jury finally delivering a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder, but guilty of the lesser count of manslaughter.

The Judge will sentence Alves next Wednesday following the production of a probation report from the Probation Department and a plea in mitigation from Mr. Hughes and Mr. Mark Waldron.