By The Today Newspaper
GREAT BAY – The Court in First Instance sentenced Nathanael Alberto Camacho-Acosta yesterday to 4 years of imprisonment for attempted manslaughter on Romano Dennis on July 29, 2013. The verdict is on a par with the demand from the prosecution.
The 35-year-old suspect was at a home on the Welfare Road behind the Peking Supermarket, when the victim and his girlfriend arrived to address the alleged sexual assault on the girl by a Spanish-speaking man who lived at this address with his grandmother.
Camacho-Acosta, nicknamed Bolita, stormed out of the house and hit Dennis with a machete on his wrist. The victim fled, but his attacker pursued him and managed to bring his machete down again, this time against the man’s neck. It cause a deep wound that has caused the victim physical limitations up to this day.
He is also still struggling with the psychological after-effects.
The court based its conviction on witness statements and on statements from the victim. At the trial on August 20, Bolita denied everything. He told the court at the time that Dennis had damaged the front door of the house, that he had come armed with a baton and a knife.
He denied that he ever told the police that he had hit Dennis with a machete. The police officer had written this in his statement because he wanted a relationship with his girlfriend, the defendant said, but Judge Paulides did not buy the story.
The court rejected a psychological assessment that the defendant is in a somewhat diminished state of accountability due to his low intelligence. “According to the psychologist the defendant is intelligent enough to distinguish what is acceptable in our society and what is not,” the court ruled.
Furthermore, Camacho-Acosta completed his education at the primary technical school. “He manages to support himself.”
