He cracked his brother in law's skull with a machete and left him disabled for life and now 27-year-old Jose Cocom will have seven years in jail to think about his heinous crime. This afternoon a jury in the Supreme Court convicted the San Pedro resident of maim and shortly after he was sentenced by Justice John Troadio Gonzalez.
The brother in law he was accused of almost hacking to death is 29-year-old Alberto Uh. The incident occurred on March 17th of 2006.
Evidence in court showed that Cocom and Uh were drinking in San Pedro when they decided to head home in a golf cart. Uh told the court that he stopped to urinate and that's when Cocom attacked him, chopping him twice to the back of the head with the machete. His skull was cracked and Uh's brain was damaged. He now lives with a speech impediment because of the attack.
Cocom was undefended at trial and called in his defense, his sister Lourdes Cocom. She told the court that Cocom went to her house and confessed that he chopped Uh because he was abusing their sister, who Uh was married to. For his part, in a statement from the dock Cocom said he chopped Uh in self-defense because he had attacked him with a knife.
The jury took 4 hours to unanimously convict Cocom. He was sentenced immediately after by Justice Gonzalez but Cocom said nothing in his defense during the sentencing. The case was prosecuted by Deputy DPP Cheryl Lynn Branker-Taitt.
