Duo get 30 years each for killing prison inmate

Two defendants on Thursday had 30-year jail sentences imposed on them by Justice Sandil Kissoon in the Berbice High Court for their involvement in the killing of a fellow prison inmate, 27-year-old Neshan Jagmohan, at the New Amsterdam Prison back in 2017.
Dellon Boucher, a 34-year-old former resident of Haslington, East Coast Demerara, and Ramchand Latchman of Number 65 Village Corentyne, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years.
A mixed 12-member jury had returned guilty verdicts for each of the men when their trial ended last month; and on Thursday, while determining the appropriate sentence for each of them, Justice Sandil Kissoon took into account the fact that a lethal weapon had been used, the degree of premeditation involved, and Boucher’s previous convictions.
The Judge noted that the killers had attacked an unarmed individual, and reminded them that their actions on that particular day amounted to a wanton contempt for the law and the policies of the Prison Service.

Boucher has already spent time in prison for armed robbery and attempting to commit a felony, while Latchman is awaiting trial for the 2016 murder of Hamechand Sookdeo of Number 55 Village Corentyne, who was killed during an act of piracy. The Judge described Boucher as a repeat offender “whose crimes have grown in severity”. Boucher had served a total of six years in jail on the previous conviction.
Given a chance to address the court on Thursday, both Boucher and Latchman said they were sorry for what they had done, and each begged the Judge to be lenient on him.
Justice Kissoon declared that Jagmohan had been killed in cold blood, and given the needless brutality inflicted upon the deceased, the court determined that the life sentence was a reasonable punishment.

Background to the killing

Neshan Jagmohan, a cane harvester of Hampshire Squatting Area, Corentyne, and his older brother Ramnarine Jagmohan, a farmer of Belvedere Squatting Area, Corentyne, had both been remanded on murder charges in connection with the October 2013 murder of Davendra Deodat, a 34-year-old businessman of Hampshire Squatting Area.
After appearing in court on June 21, 2017, the brothers had returned to their cells in the New Amsterdam Prison, where they were attacked by inmates armed with homemade weapons.
The Jagmohan brothers were taken by ambulance to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where Neshan was immediately pronounced dead while Ramnarine was admitted a patient there for some time. A post-mortem examination determined that Neshan had died from puncture wounds to the heart, lungs and kidneys.
Ramnarine was eventually freed of the charge in 2019, after the trial Judge had upheld a no-case submission.
In 2020, Rooplall Abrahim, a 24-year-old former resident of Lot 4 Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice (WCB), who had testified on behalf of the State against Boucher and Latchman during their trial in relation to the Jagmohan brothers, had pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter in relation to the death of Neshan Jagmohan, and was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
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 all these cases, he had 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.
Abrahim had also 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 had been set on fire.
Abrahim and his accomplice Madanpaul Gocoul, called “Clown”, had raided Baichan’s home, and escaped with $150,000 before setting it on fire. Gocoul has been jailed for 24 years after pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.