Two prisoners from the New Amsterdam Prison were convicted at the High Court in Berbice last week of killing another prisoner during an attack at the facility more than six years ago.
A jury returned verdicts of guilty against Dillon Boucher, 25, formerly of Haslington, East Coast Demerara (ECD), and 23-year-old Ramchand Latchman, 23, of Number 65 Village in Corentyne.
Confessed killer: Rooplall Abrahim
Neshan Jagmohan, 27, was murdered by the two on June 21, 2017.
The two will return to court on October 26 for sentencing by Justice Sandil Kissoon.
In 2020, Rooplall Abrahim, 24, formerly of Lot 4 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (WCB), who had testified on behalf of the State against Boucher and Latchman during their trial, had pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter in relation to the death of Jagmohan.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Dead: Neshan Jagmohan
Both Naresh Jagmohan, a cane harvester from Hampshire Squatting Area, and his older brother Ramnarine Jagmohan, a farmer from Belvedere Squatting Area, had been remanded on murder charges in connection with the death of Davendra Deodat, a 34-year-old businessman from Hampshire Squatting Area, in October 2013.
According to reports, Deodat was chopped and shot dead at his home after a group of masked men stormed the grocery shop he and his wife operated.
The bandits also chopped Deodat’s wife in the head and shot his father-in-law.
On June 21, 2017, after appearing in court, the brothers went back to their cells in the New Amsterdam jail, where they were attacked by inmates armed with homemade weapons.
Guilty: Dillon Boucher
The men were taken by ambulance to the hospital, where Neshan was immediately pronounced dead while his brother was kept there for some time. Neshan was found to have died from puncture wounds to the heart, lungs, and kidneys after a post-mortem examination.
Ramnarine was eventually freed of the crime in 2019 after the trial Judge upheld the no-case submission made on his behalf by his attorney-at-law.
Abrahim, who is serving three life sentences for killing three persons in Berbice, including a couple, has moved to the Court of Appeal where he is asking for a reduction of the sentences.
In both cases, he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
In the first case, he admitted that between January 8 and January 9, 2016, at Bush Lot, Middle Dam, West Coast Berbice (WCB), he unlawfully killed US-based Guyanese Arthur Doodnauth Rajkumar, 81, and his reputed wife, Diane Devi, 45.
It was reported that the man and his wife were chopped several times by robbers who demanded cash and other values. The couple, however, did not hand over anything. Police later found their mutilated bodies after receiving reports of screams coming from their home.
Guilty: Ramchand Latchman
Also, Abrahim pleaded guilty to unlawfully killing 49-year-old Anita Baichan by arson between January 3 and 4, 2016. Media reports are that the woman’s bound and gagged body was discovered at her Plantation Hope, WCB home, which was set on fire.
Abrahim and his accomplice, Madanpaul Gocoul, called, “Clown”, raided Baichan’s home and escaped with $150,000 before setting it on fire. Gocoul was jailed for 24 years.
Following a trial in 2011, Abrahim was acquitted of the September 2008 murder of 13-year-old Kavita Panday, whose body was fished from a canal at Bath Settlement, WCB.
Based on reports, the young girl went missing after she was last seen in the company of Abrahim.
After the teenager failed to return home, her family launched a search for her.
Her partially nude body was found floating in the canal. (G1)
