Barbara Gayle, STAFF Reporter

A man has been jailed for 16 years for chopping off the hands of his friend during a dispute over tools.

Denniston Alexander, also called 'Zarro', farmer and labourer of Chester Castle, Hanover, was found guilty of wounding with intent.

Justice Courtney Daye sentenced him on Wednesday in the Hanover Circuit Court.

The complainant Roxie Lyttle, 37, testified that in June 2003, he and the accused had a dispute over some tools he had left at the accused's house.

He said on June 21, 2003, that he left a square, a trowel and a tape measure at the house but when he returned to collect his tools later the same day, the square was missing.

He asked the accused about his square and the accused chased him away with a machete. Lyttle said he ran off and stopped at his girlfriend's gate, where he spoke with her for about two hours.

He said about 11:30 p.m., Alexander surprised him and attacked him with a machete, "the first strike chopping off his right hand clean, clean". Lyttle tried to run from the accused, but fell and Alexander stood over him, "rainning chops on him, severing my left hand and causing further wounds to my right hand, forehead, jaw, leg and foot bottom".

During the attack, Lyttle said Alexander stopped, walked away and returned, beating and chopping him again with the machete. Doctors at the Cornwall Regional Hospital tried to reattach his hands, but the surgery was unsuccessful. Both hands were are amputated at the wrist.

Alexander could not be found after the incident but on July 3, 2005, Detective Corporal Caleb Anderson arrested and charged Alexander in Liliput, St James.

Alexander said in an unsworn statement from the dock that he did not attack Lyttle. He said Lyttle and two men entered his house and fired shots at him.