Despite being jailed for killing wife, man gets 14 years for chopping another partner

Neil Archer

Regardless of serving 17 years behind bars for killing his wife, 49-year-old Neil Archer was today handed a 14-year jail sentence for attempting to murder another one of his partners.

Archer, a former cane harvester, was indicted for the attempt to commit murder after appearing before High Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall and pleaded guilty.

He admitted that on October 19, 2016, in the county of Demerara, he unlawfully and maliciously wounded the woman with the intent to murder her.

During the court hearing, the victim described Archer as an “angel of death” while noting that she had already forgiven him. For his part, he expressed hope that the woman could find it in her heart to forgive him.

Notwithstanding, Justice Morris-Ramlall sentenced the convict to 14 years in prison while deducting the time spent on pre-trial. Further, the Judge ordered that he undergoes monthly counselling for anger management during his incarceration.

Archer was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment on July 25, 2005, for unlawfully killing his wife. During his time in prison, he began communicating with this woman he knew from childhood.

They followed through with their plan to get married after being released from prison on July 9, 2016.

However, on the night of October 19, 2016, Archer, while armed with a cutlass, attacked the woman while she was asleep, chopping her to her neck, hand, back, and other parts of her body. She was saved from Archer’s wrath by her son.

Further, in 1997, Archer was given two seven-year prison sentences for attempted murder and wounding with intent, respectively. Since the sentences ran concurrently, he only spent seven years in jail. It is, however, unclear whom he committed these offences against.