Twenty-eight-year-old Devon Thomas, who was charged with the 2013 Republic Day murder of Enterprise, East Coast Demerara (ECD) businessman Kumar Mohabir, was on Wednesday sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
The custodial sentence was imposed by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow at the Demerara High Court.
Confessed killer Devon Thomas
During a sentencing hearing via Zoom, the Judge said that while there were mitigating factors in favour of Thomas, which included his youthful age and the realisation that his actions and that of others have caused great hardship to the deceased’s family, she found no reason to make any deductions from the base sentence of 12 years for mitigating factors.
Although case laws dictate that convicts should be given a one-third reduction of their sentence for an early guilty plea, Justice Barlow said she did not consider this an early guilty plea, since Thomas was previously tried twice for the capital offence of murder.
Nothing that the court would not hold his prior choice to go to trial against him, she ordered that Thomas be given a two-year reduction in sentence for his guilty plea.
The Justice further ordered the prison authorities to deduct from the sentence eight years and seven months, which account for the time the confessed killer had spent in custody from the date he was charged.
The Judge also instructed that Thomas undergo programmes tailored to his needs while incarcerated. The case for the prosecution was led by Senior State Counsel Lisa Cave, while Attorney-at-Law Surihya Sabsook appeared on behalf of Thomas.
Thomas and 25-year-old Randy Isaacs were initially indicted for murdering Mohabir at Vlissengen Road, Georgetown in July 2015. A 12-member jury then had found both of them guilty. They were both sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh to 75 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after serving 40 years.
Thomas and Isaacs subsequently mounted an appeal against their conviction and sentence, and in so doing, argued that the trial Judge had made several errors in law. Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal allowed their appeal, thereby setting aside their conviction and sentence.
Dead: Kumar Mohabir
As such, their case was remitted to the High Court for a new trial.
That trial commenced in July of this year before Justice Sandil Kissoon. After almost three hours of deliberation, the jury found Isaacs not guilty but returned hung for Thomas. As such, Justice Sandil Kissoon further remanded Thomas to prison pending another trial at the next practicable sitting of the Demerara Criminal Assizes.
Based on reports, Mohabir was with his family partaking in Mashramani celebrations at Vlissengen Road, Georgetown when he was attacked and killed by a group of men who were armed with broken bottles. The altercation reportedly stemmed from the now-dead man stepping on one of his attackers’ feet. (G1)
