By: Andrew Carmichael
One of the accused in the gruesome 2016 murder of three persons in the Black Bush Polder, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), was on Thursday sentenced to death while another was sentenced to life imprisonment by Justice Sandil Kissoon following a trial in the Berbice High Court.
Four persons were on trial for the murders: Carlon Chaitram, Jairam Chaitram, Tameshwar Jagmohan, and Rakesh Karamchand.
They were accused of murdering Pawan Chandradeo, 38; his son Jaikarran Chandradeo, 15; and his brother-in-law Naresh Rooplall, 33, at Mibicuri Backdam between July 21 and 22, 2016.
The number one accused – 24-year-old Jairam Chaitram – pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. He was, however, sentenced to life imprisonment. Chaitram, a teenager at the time, was the one who pulled the trigger resulting in the death of the three. Justice Kissoon said sentencing must act as a deterrent to others. He was sentenced to life on each count.
“In other words, you are to spend the rest of your life in prison,” Justice Kissoon told the 24-year-old man, who had confessed to killing the fishermen because he wanted to conceal his identity in a criminal act he and the others had gone into the backlands to perpetrate.
Meanwhile, sentenced to death was Jagmohan, who was unanimously found guilty Thursday.
The other two accused are expected to be sentenced next week. They had also pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
State Prosecutor, Attorney-at-Law Abigail Gibbs had told the court that the quartet had gone into the backdam to steal fuel from a farmer and they killed the trio who was there on a fishing expedition. The trio was killed because they may have witnessed the theft of fuel.
Following the guilty verdict on Thursday, Justice Kissoon stated that the fishermen were killed for $45,000. “That is what ten jars of fuel cost,” the Judge said.
Show no mercy
State Prosecutor, Attorney-at-Law Abigail Gibbs asked the court to ensure that punishment reflects the nature of the crime.
“Two fathers are absent from their homes, just as he showed no mercy and acted selfishly, I urge the court not to have mercy in sentencing,” she pleaded.
Throughout the trial, Jagmohan maintained his innocence, telling the court that he was not the person who pulled the trigger. He claimed that after three persons were seen on the dam as they approached the fuel tank, he urged the others with him to abort the mission.
However, both Justice Kissoon and the State prosecutor pointed out that Jagmohan did not distance himself from the crime in any way.
“You did not seek to report the matter to authorities or to anyone else. Instead, you tried to conceal your actions by getting gasoline, diesel and lime to wash off your hands and you went about your life as if nothing had happened,” the trial Judge said.
After being found guilty by the mixed jury, Jagmohan said he was not satisfied with the trial.
“It was an unfair trial. I should have been charged with accessory to murder or something like that,” he told the court when asked if he had anything to say before sentencing was passed.
He argued that he did not shoot the fishermen.
However, the prosecutor called on the court to address the notion that only the “trigger man” can be accused of murder so that others would not make the same mistake.
Meanwhile, Chaitram, when asked if he had anything to say, told the court that he was sorry for what he had done.
“I did not apologise to the family because they would not accept it,” he said.
Indrewattie Rooplall, Pawan Chandradeo’s wife, Jaikarran’s mother, and the sister of Naresh Rooplall, told the court that things have not been the same since the incident.
“When I heard that my family had died; my husband my son and my brother I screamed out and I lost away. When I went to the Black Bush Mibicuri Hospital where I identified my family’s bodies, after seeing them I lost away again and when I regained consciousness, I was on a hospital bed… what hurt me the most is knowing that the person who killed my family, Jairam Chaitram, my husband worked with his father and I could not have believed that he killed my family. It hurts really bad knowing that I am living in the same village with the person who killed my family and me and my family is still scared because we are living in the same village where Chaitram Jairam family lives.”
The widow said since the incident, she has been having nervous breakdowns and has been hospitalised several times since.
“It is affecting my job. I am a security guard. It is also affecting my kids too because my daughter is always sick and my son is still traumatised and would not take counselling.”
She said both of her sons had to drop out of school as a result of the incident.
“The only income I have to sustain me and my children is from my job and my 19-year-old son who dropped out from school is now is a security guard. My husband that died was the breadwinner for the home and because he is not alive anymore my two sons had to drop out from school and the older one is now helping with my finances,” Rooplall told the court.
Meanwhile, her teenage daughter who was given a chance to speak to Chaitram told him that he still has a father. “You can see your father. I can’t see mine,” she said and broke down in tears. During the trial, Forensic Pathologist Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan, who was the last witness for the prosecution, told the court that all three victims died as a result of shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot wounds. He said the teenager was shot to his temple and the bullet went through his head, shattering his skull and disfiguring his brain.
His father also received similar injuries while Rooplall’s entire brain was removed from his head by the pellets from the shotgun.
