MAN WHO BEAT TO DEATH GIRLFRIEND GETS LIFE

Alvando Givens' Two Children Listened In Terror as Their Father Killed Vonceta Render

Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. Howard, Jr. announces the conviction yesterday and sentencing today of Alvando Givens of Atlanta on 10 counts-two counts of murder, four counts of felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and two counts of aggravated battery. A Fulton County Superior Court jury convicted the 31-year-old Givens yesterday of the June 4, 2006 murder of Vonceta Render, a 29-year-old mother of three and a cook for the Meals on Wheels program. Senior Judge Tracy Moulton sentenced Givens to a term of life plus 20 years.

The victim and the defendant dated intermittently. After celebrating a girlfriend's birthday at a nightclub, Render went to the defendant's home on Ard Place in Atlanta to spend the night. During the early morning hours of June 4th, the defendant's 14-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son heard fighting. For the next 30 minutes, the children listened to the sounds of the defendant beating and strangling the victim. The defendant placed Render's body in her car, drove a block away and left the body in the passenger seat of the car where it was discovered at about 2:00 p.m. When Givens returned the children to their mother later that day, they told her what they had witnessed. She notified Atlanta police. Givens was arrested on June 8th and charged with murder.

Senior Assistant District Attorneys Eric Dunaway and Phyllis Clerk prosecuted this case. It was investigated by Atlanta Police Department Homicide Detective Tom O'Neill and Bernadette Hernandez and Fred Hall of the Fulton County District Attorney's Investigation Unit. Scott Long and Shantae Wilson of the DA's Victim-Witness Assistance Program counseled the victim's family members and witnesses.

CONTACT: Lyn Vaughn, 404.730.6860 (office); 770.597.6963 (cell); lyn.vaughn@co.fulton.ga.us