William Greenaway of Clifton, will spend over two weeks on remand at the Dominica State Prison before facing sentence for the manslaughter of Valmond Thomas, following guilty verdict by a seven -woman and two-man jury this morning.
“Given the circumstances of this case and given the antecedents of the defendant I would prefer to have a thorough social inquiry of the defendant,” Justice Birnie Stephenson-Brooks told the court following the verdict.
The convicted man, who was on bail, will reappear in court on July 15, 2010 for sentencing.
Greenaway, according to testimonies of prosecution witnesses, caused the death of 56 year-old Thomas’ by unlawfully pulling him off his blue Toyoto pickup causing him to sustain a neck injury in 2007, which paralyzed and later killed him in 2008.
According to the charge, Thomas was killed between the day of the incident on June 9, 2007 and April 8, 2008.
State witnesses testified that the incident occurred near the Catholic Church in the Penville community at about 2 p.m. on June 9, 2007.
Witnesses also testified that on the day of the incident, the accused man had been contracted by Benoit Thomas to provide transportation for both Benoit and Valmond Thomas to sell fish in Portsmouth and neighboring communities.
On their way back to Portsmouth, while in Penville, Greenaway stopped to pick up two ladies near the Catholic Church; when the incident occurred.
Thomas, who was responsible for blowing the conch shell, was said to be drunk and disorderly throughout the five hour trip. According to witnesses Greenaway had asked Thomas to sit flat in the vehicle several times but he refused
While in Penville, Thomas began to swear, jump up and down and misbehave on Greenaway’s vehicle.
The convicted man asked Thomas to get off his vehicle several times but he refused.
A struggle ensued and Greenaway knocked Thomas off the blue Toyota pick- up.
He fell and landed on the ground where he sustained spinal injuries which left him paralyzed until he succumbed and died from at the hospital on April 8, 2008.
According to the doctors who testified in the trial, Thomas died from complications related to his injury. He suffered with paralysis from the neck down and could not control his bowel and urinary activities. He developed massive bed sores which later got infected and spread to his blood and organs. He also contracted pneumonia due to his injury.
The accused defended the accusations in an unsworn statement on Friday. He told the court that he never pushed pulled or tumbled the deceased man off the pickup.
He said that Thomas was sitting on the ‘tail board’ of the van with one foot out and the other inside. He (Greenaway) said that he took the foot that was inside and put it outside and was in the process of helping the deceased off the vehicle when he slipped and fell on his back.
Greenaway said that after seeing Thomas lying down on his side he drove off.
Two men later picked Thomas up and placed him face down on a bench in the area until the police and ambulance arrived.
Director of Police Prosecutions Gene Pestaina represented the state while Dawn Yearwood-Stewart represented Greenaway.
@good spirit: i don’t understand anything that person said
some of all you those talking, the same day of the incident valmond was trouble to lady at the market and that is his habbit to trouble those to lady and she give him a blast and send him to die the same day.
uptown rebel i believe you need to get your facts straight cause if i own a vehicle and someone behaves in a disorderly manner i have every right to tell you to get off from my vehicle and if you do not listen i have every right to put you down from my vehice cuz you know why? it is my vehicle, my money i worked hard fo to buy and i do believe that people need to have respect for other people property cuz sometime we see people with things and we don’t know how they get it and as far as i know mr. greenaway is a constructor worker and he worked hard to own his vehicle.that is his own and i woul do the same if i was in mr. greenaway position.Dominicans to boldface for people thing if it was in another country long time they would shoot the person for behaving in an otherly manner on a man own private ride.uptown rebel you are just a TYPICAL DOMINICAN and it look like you just like valmond so you will support him but let me tell you know man that trying to play untidy on my own ride and think you will do what you want you better know that your days for living is over cuz no man not going to make me take jail for my own thing
I agree with everythin that you say mr.police officer becuase what some people don’t realize is in life we face different circumstances and anyone of us could be in mr greenaway’s position and just like him we would want to be set free knowing that you were falsely accused of killing somebody
….. YOU CAN REALLY SEE MR.GREENAWAY DID NOT MEAN TO KILL THAT MAN. THE MAN WAS DRUNK AND DID NOT WANT TO GET OF THE MAN TRANSPORT.YOU DOE SEE THAT IS BOLDFACES MAN
I can understand Greemaway became upsett after asking him several time to sit properly,and the response he got from Valmond, but give me a break, he threw him off, he saw him hit the ground and not respond, and left him on the road like a dog; so what ever he Greenaway get he can take. People have to be held accountable for stupid and rash decisions
@Police Officer: I agree…
north side records this have nutting to do with giving the man a ride. mr greenaway was contracted to carry mr valmond thomas and another man to sell fish so he had every right to be on that van but to conduct him self in an acceptable manner.
@police if u really are a police officer as u said then u should know manslaughter means killing witout the intension of killing and mureder means killing with intent. it was not his intention to kill valmont but he did.
@Gangsta J (NorthSide Recordz) Out Of Clifton.: i agree dominica judiciary is really crap
amen justice served
are you condoning mr.greenaway action .i dont believe he meant to kill him but he acted foolishly and he should have to pay for that .i feel bad for him and i dont think neither you nor mr greenaway should change the story.mr greenaway said he put him down now you saying he gave him a ride .if i was in mr greenaway place i would apologise and let the judge do the rest because i honestly think that he is sorry but he hasn’t said that he is .(mr greenaway please tell them that you are sorry and that you regret your action ,they will believe you cause i for sure know that you are but you just not man enough to say it .just forget how people feel about you man)
mister didnt have a good enuf lawyer to challenge that case the man was drunk after he pulled him off the van and he fell the driver left him. who knows what happened to the man between that time and the time whoever found him. the man vehicle is his property he has a right to defend his property. Dyer would have represented you better my boy that case had many loop holes
This ruling by the Jury was rather unproffessional and bias. A more experienced jury was needed for this case (unfair to the accused). The decision by the jury was unexpectingly quick and made it appeared to have been made whilst the matter was in process. The investigator on this case, never tried, in the first instance, to get statements from other persons that were on the scene at the time of the incident (unfair to the accused). Come on people, put your self in that man’s place, and tell me what you would have done if you were driving a pickup/van with a drunk man behaving disorderly at the back and to make matters worst, sitting on the tail board with one foot out? I believe the normal thinking person would ask him to get off, and if he refuses, to help him get off. Mr. Williams had no willfull intention to kill Thomas. There was nothing like this in any of the statements given. Where was the intention? Can you prove it? The judge I can see from the comments given, maybe didn’t quite like or agree with the verdict given by the jury. I have worked in the Portsmouth area as a Police Officer, and we have no records of this man behaving in any violent manner or being abusive. So ‘UPTOWN REBEL’, get your facts straight! I only know him to be a man who works hard to maintain his wife and five kids. Now with him being up at the State Prison, who knows what his family is going through? Do you know? Do you even care? Give a feedback to this comment…God Bless!
My comments are based on facts Sir.Let me give you one,out of many…..assaulting a male member of society with a hammer, whereby causing the rapture that said individual’s ear drum?..remember? or you chose to forget,or you don’t know of that incident?….and there are much more……
I am very supprised at what you wrote,and have the audacity to say you are Policeman. With all due respect are you really?….If you reli are sir,go look up the facts and get back to me.Then i will give you some more facts,cause time, is on my side….
My opinions and comments are based on facts,not sympathy or partiality.
i believe that the jury made their decison based on the facts of the case mr policeman…..u of all should know better than that…and what exactly do you mean by amore experienced Jury…..the facts were there…the man didnt fall off by himself somebody threw him off…..at the end of the day…de man death was caused by the fall….so regardless of how quick the jury made their decision….i dont think any of us knows what went on in the Jury room…u should be ashamed of urself
i believe that mr.greenaway had the right to tell the deceased to get of from his vehicle or eeven to remove him and if the deceased refused to get off there is nothing that mr.greenaway could do to help and so if he went about his business and the man fell it is not mr.greenaway’s fault.
to uptown rebel i hope u would go with the laws of the country and u not making any sense what u said because the man give his testimony that he did not do valmond anything so that verdict did not make any sense, so i hope those jury and the judge get back to their chambers and resolve that.
mr greenway had a duty of care, because he had a contract by allowing those to two men into his pickup to sell fish, mr thomas was drunk but mr greeway should have ensure mr thomas control himself by not allowing him to drunk that much, mr greenway intention was not to blame, but he did not handle the situation properly,
I believe Even if Mr Greenaway Did Push Dis Man off his van. He did and in fact 1 him several time to get of his van and he did not get off. In My Case i would puss his ass off my vehicle. Mr greenaway was just being a good Samaritan. Cause if he did not give this man a ride this would never happen. And I sure if Mr greenaway new this man was drunk he would have not give him a ride. I got 1 thing to say. It Have Others That Killed People With Full Evidence And They Are Out On D Street. Like THis Fella From Portsmouth that shoot and killed the guy. Dominica judiciary System Is Crap.
a sentence like that is maxxxxxxxxx..it would even be better if he had just shot or stab him to death,but having to suffer for so , so long thats too much for any body to go through..MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE.valmond was a drunk but he was a very helpfull person .
Good,very good!..I believe justice was served in this case.That man has a history of abusive and violent behavior. If he was incarcerated for his pass assults,maybe Valmond would have been alive today.
I hope the Judge gives him the maximun sentence allowed under the law.
Even if Valmond was a drunk,he had certain rights, of which the most important was the right to life.And no one should violate that right and inflict such serious injuries upon him that results in his death,and not have to face the consequences specified by law.
Irrespective of what we think of somebody,or how we look at him/her,or what position they hold in society,or lack thereof, they are endowed by the Creator with inalienable Righs,among them the Right to life,Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. We must respect those Rights. And we have to start respecting each other as well,which undoubtedly will result in less violence in our society.