Fisherman gets life sentence for murder of US-based Guyanese

Mario Bissoondyal of Lot 141 Main Street, Cumberland, East Canje Berbice was on Tuesday given a life sentence for the 2021 murder of Guyanese national Hemraj Pardesi, called “Prem”, who, at the time of his demise, was visiting from the United States of America (USA).
During a sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow ruled that Bissoondyal has to serve 30 years in prison before he is eligible for release.
The judge also ordered the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) to deduct six years from the 30 after considering his guilty plea and 928 days of incarceration.
Further, Justice Barlow also ordered the prison to price skill training designed specifically for persons convicted of violent crimes to facilitate his rehabilitation.
Arraigned before Justice Jo-Ann Barlow in the Berbice High Court in January, Bissoondyal, a 34-year-old fisherman, pleaded guilty to a charge which detailed that, during the course or furtherance of a robbery, he and another had attacked Pardesi in his yard after his close associate, who had accompanied him to the bank earlier in the day, had left.
Pardesi’s lifeless body was reportedly found at the bottom of his outdoor stairway. He was bleeding from his nose, and duct tape was strapped around his neck. In their investigations, the Police had found the upper flat of Pardesi’s home had been ransacked.
Following his guilty plea, Justice Barlow put off sentencing for February 7, 2024, which was further extended to Tuesday.
He was represented by Attorney-at-Law Kevin Morgan, while State Counsel Muntaz Ali is appearing for the prosecution.
Guyana Times had reported that on the day that Pardesi was murdered, he had visited a local bank and had withdrawn an undisclosed sum of cash that was intended to pay for some renovation being done on the home.
In the course of their investigations, the Police had arrested several persons in connection with Pardesi’s murder. During interrogation, one of the men had reportedly confessed to participating in the heinous crime. He told detectives that he had only carried out the robbery, but had at no time hurt the elderly man. And as he continued to confess, he had implicated several other persons in the crime.