Former GDF rank found guilty of beheading uncle

A 29-year-old former member of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) was on Friday found guilty of beheading his uncle 51-year-old Randolph Seenauth on August 6, 2017, at Better Hope South, East Coast Demerara during an argument.

Dwayne Tappin was found guilty by a 12-member jury for the capital offence but continued to maintain his innocence. In response to the verdict, he said: “I’m innocent.”

Trial Judge, Justice Sandil Kissoon at the Demerara High Court adjourned the matter until November 14, 2019, for a probation report and sentencing.

The State is represented by Prosecutors Mandel Moore and Abigail Gibbs.

Seenauth and Tappin lived in separate apartments on the same plot of land, however, the family has a dispute over the land which the victim’s mother had occupied before she died.

On the day in question, at around 04:30hrs, neighbours heard a loud commotion in one of the apartments but then there was silence for a few minutes and they contacted the Police.

When the Police arrived at Seenauth’s apartment, they found his head lying in a passageway between the living room and kitchen and his body in the bedroom.

The murder weapon was not recovered. Tappin, hours after the murder, turned himself over to ranks at the Sparendaam Police Station.