Arouca man jailed for chopping best friend 28 times in 2010

AN Arouca man has pleaded guilty to chopping his best friend 28 times back in 2010.

Leon Logan, who was on a charge of wounding with intent, was sentenced to 12 years by Justice Carla Brown-Antoine on Tuesday.

Four years were taken off for his guilty plea and another four and six months for the time he has spent in custody awaiting trial. Because of these reductions, Logan will have three years and five months remaining on his sentence.

The incident took place on January 5, 2010.

He was represented by attorney Shervon Noreiga.

According to the facts of the case, presented by prosecutor Giselle Ferguson-Heller, the victim, Reshith Edwards, was liming on the road close to his home when Logan and another man, whose name was given as Radio, came up to him.

The prosecutor said Logan and Edwards had been best friends for several years. Logan told him he and Radio wanted to pick oranges to “make a hustle,” and Edwards agreed to join them, but first went home to get a fan rake, bag and shoes.

Logan was 22 at the time and is now 35. Edwards was 16.

The three went to Williams Trace, Five Rivers, Arouca, where the attack took place.

Radio tied a red bandana around Edwards’s neck, forcing him to get down on his knees to try to breathe.

The prosecutor said Logan then pulled a cutlass and began chopping Edwards on the neck. Edwards tried to use his hands to shield himself and was chopped on his fingers, wrist and forearms 20 times.

Radio then took the cutlass and began striking Edwards before Logan took it back and continued chopping. Edwards received another eight chops to his waist.

A hunter looking for his dogs found him in the bushy area at Williams Trace and recognised him. He went to get Edwards’s mother, who saw her son bleeding on the ground with the bandana around his neck.

When she asked who had done that to him, he told her it was “Leon.”

Edwards was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope, where he spentsix days.

Ferguson-Heller said Edwards was left with permanent injuries which affected his mobility and is still unable to hold anything with his left hand. He walks with a limp and cannot bend one of his little fingers.

At the police station, Logan insisted he did not chop anyone, but Edwards identified him as his attacker during a confrontation.