‘Black Boy’ put away for 20 years for rape, strangulation of woman

Joshua Connell

A High Court judge has sentenced 32-year-old Joshua Connell, also known as “Black Boy,” to 20 years and 10 months’ imprisonment for manslaughter, ordering that the sentence run consecutively to an existing prison term he is already serving.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif at the Essequibo High Court following Connell’s conviction for the killing of 28-year-old Venezuelan national Dimas Emilia Lezama Fermin at a mining camp in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni). The court also directed prison authorities to deduct the time Connell has already spent in custody and ensure that he completes an alcohol rehabilitation programme before the end of his sentence.
Connell had pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter after initially being charged with murder, contrary to common law. The killing occurred between 3 and 4 October 2020, at Big Hope Backdam, Bartica, along the Cuyuni River.
Fermin, who was employed as a cook at the mining camp, lived and worked alongside several miners and camp workers, including Connell. She was last seen alive on the night of Saturday, 3 October 2020. Her body was discovered the following morning floating face-down in a pond behind her living quarters. At the time, she was partially unclothed, wearing a blue jersey and naked from the waist down.
Witnesses confirmed seeing Fermin at the camp on the night in question and later discovering her body. Police ranks who examined the scene observed visible bruises and bluish discolouration to her neck, vagina, and buttocks.
During a caution interview conducted on 4 October 2020 by Police Constable Jamal James in the presence of Corporal Kevin Morgan, Connell admitted to having sex with Fermin and choking her after she resisted. He told investigators that he had been drinking alcohol, restrained her, tore her clothing, forced her onto a bed, and strangled her when she began making noise. He further confessed that after realising she was no longer breathing, he placed her body near a window before carrying it to a pond behind the camp and then returned to drink more rum. Connell maintained that he did not intend to kill her.
A post-mortem examination conducted by Dr Nehaul Singh concluded that Fermin died from asphyxiation due to compression injuries to the neck, compounded by multiple blunt trauma. The findings were consistent with strangulation.
In determining sentence, the court considered a probation report detailing Connell’s background and personal circumstances. Born on 18 September 1993 at the Georgetown Public Hospital, Connell was raised primarily by his mother after his parents separated when he was about three years old. He grew up in an extended family setting at Vryheid’s Lust, East Coast Demerara, and reportedly left school at Second Form due to financial hardship.
The report indicated that Connell had no previous criminal record at the time of the 2020 offence and was generally well-behaved while incarcerated, although he was placed in solitary confinement for several days following a prison altercation in 2022. Family members and community residents described him as jovial, hardworking, and non-violent, with interests in sports and church activities. Before the offence, he worked in masonry, carpentry, farming, cooking, and mining in the interior.
Connell expressed remorse for the killing, apologised to the victim’s family, and pleaded for leniency. “I am very sorry for the life that was lost. What happened was not right, and I apologise to the family who lost their loved one. I am asking the court to have some mercy and give me a lighter sentence,” he told the court.
However, prosecutors disclosed that Connell is already serving a separate 35-year prison sentence for another killing committed in May 2022. Investigators said he murdered 28-year-old businesswoman Rosella Smith following an allegation that she had stolen his raw gold. Smith’s body was later found in a pit at Three Miles in Karrau Backdam, Region Seven. An autopsy revealed that she died from asphyxiation due to drowning, compounded by compression injuries to the neck.
State prosecutors Caressa Henry and Rodley Mathoo identified several aggravating factors, including the brutal strangulation of a vulnerable foreign woman in a remote mining community, the abuse of trust between co-workers, the prevalence of violence against women in backdam areas, and Connell’s status as a repeat offender. They also argued that his efforts to minimise responsibility and dispose of the victim’s body demonstrated a lack of genuine remorse.
The defence, led by attorney L.N. Dindayal, urged the court to consider Connell’s age, expressions of remorse, previously good character, and cooperation with police as mitigating factors.
In delivering her decision, Justice Chandra-Hanif underscored the seriousness of violent crime and the need for accountability, while balancing the mitigating and aggravating factors. She set a starting sentence of 25 years, citing the nature of the offence, the level of violence involved, and the concealment of the body.
Departing from the usual one-third reduction for an early guilty plea, the judge granted Connell only a one-sixth reduction—amounting to four years and two months—and made no further deductions for mitigating factors. She noted that within a short period in 2020, Connell had killed two young women in unrelated incidents, describing the pattern as “very alarming.”
Justice Chandra-Hanif stressed that crimes committed in remote areas would not go unpunished and said the sentence was intended to send a clear message that society condemns all forms of unlawful killing. She ultimately ordered that the 20 years and 10 months imposed for the manslaughter conviction run consecutively to Connell’s existing sentence, further extending the time he will spend in prison.