When police first questioned 18-year-old Nishawn Diandre Prescod almost four years ago in connection with the stabbing death of a Guyanese man he said, “I didn’t do that man nothing”.
That was not the case today in the No. 2 Supreme Court when Prescod, of Hinds Gap, Halls Road, St Michael, told Justice Randall Worrell, “Not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter” after the charge that he had murdered Brinsley Warde on October 9, 2015 was read to him by the clerk of the court.
Principal Crown Counsel Alliston Seale accepted the plea on the Crown’s behalf and went on to detail what happened that Friday.
Warde found himself in an altercation with three men, one of whom was Prescod. The situation quickly deteriorated into a stone-throwing incident near the exit of Queen’s Park and spilled over onto Nursery Drive.
A driver of a motorcar who was in the area with two other people in his vehicle witnessed the altercation. Concerned that the stones would damage his vehicle he asked Warde who had stopped by the car to move along, all the while the men were still pelting the missiles.
The altercation then turned physical with the men beating on Warde and at one point one of the culprits began stabbing the victim. Warde fell to the ground and collapsed. Police and emergency personnel soon arrived but Warde succumbed to his injuries at the scene.
The Principal Crown Counsel said a number of men were developed as suspects, including Prescod.
“My position is I didn’t do that man anything I try to stop the two others,” Prescod told police when told about the investigation before giving a voluntary statement to lawmen.
Seale however explained that from the evidence compiled on Prescod, he was not the one who administered the fatal blow but was charged on the basis of joint enterprise.
A postmortem was conducted on Warde’s body and his death was as a result of hemorrhagic shock from a stab wound to the back.
Police spoke to the accused and other men about the post-mortem and the serious bodily harm charge was upgraded to murder.
Prescod, who is represented by attorney-at-law Sally Comissiong, accepted the facts read by the Crown’s prosecutor moments before the judge ordered a pre-sentencing report on him. His time on remand is also expected to be read in when he reappears in the High Court on November 15.
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