(CMR) Jeremy Parchman (21) and Shimar Kelly (23), who were found guilty of manslaughter in the 2019 killing of Dinesh Asanka Fernando Wannukawatta-Waduge, were each sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on Tuesday.
Wannukawatta-Waduge (36), a Sri Lankan chef working in Cayman, was beaten by the men outside the Bananas Restaurant and Lounge in George Town on November 30, 2019. The men reportedly punched him in the head, which resulted in him hemorrhaging to death due to a preexisting medical condition.
The altercation reportedly started inside the nightclub after Parchman’s brother, Kevin, punched Wannukawatta-Waduge to the ground for touching his girlfriend. Security then assisted Wannukawatta-Waduge to leave the bar. Shortly after, Kelly and Parchman left the bar and attacked Wannukawatta-Waduge in the bar's car park, where they beat him and then left him on the ground. Emergency services were called, and he was pronounced dead.
It was revealed that Wannukawatta-Waduge had a pre-existing illness which caused the injuries he received to worsen, resulting in his death.
In handing down the sentence, Justice Cheryll Richards said she had taken into account the fact that the men did not intend to kill the victim and that if it was not for his pre-existing condition, he might not have died. However, she said the attack was “unprovoked, callous and deliberate.”
Justice Richards also took into consideration that Wannukawatta-Waduge's family in Sri Lanka was left to suffer as he was their breadwinner. His wife has cancer and is unable to work, and is the caregiver of the couple's two-year-old daughter.
Kevin Parchman pleaded guilty to ABH in relation to punching Wannukawatta-Waduge inside the bar.
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