After being convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the lesser count of manslaughter in 2019, 40-year-old Rajen Dindial has moved to the Appeal Court to have his conviction and jail time overturned.
Convict: Rajen Dindial
The former 653 Section C Block Y Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) resident was found guilty of the offence following a trial at the High Court in Demerara for unlawfully killing 25-year-old Alston Henry.
The killing happened on September 3, 2017, at Sarron Street, Grove, EBD. Dindial was initially indicted for the capital offence of murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser count before Justice Jo Ann Barlow.
However, in his appeal application, the convict argued that the trial Judge erred in some areas during the summing up.
He argued that Justice Barlow erred in law when she failed to direct the jury to completely disregard the contents of the confession statement after it had been read to the jury and subsequently withdrawn from the jury.
This is in addition to Dindial arguing that the Judge erred when she failed to withdraw the case from the jury after reversing her decision to permit the caution statement into the evidence and the only implicating evidence was manifestly unreliable and the sentence was too excessive.
Reports have revealed that Henry was at a wedding house with Dindial’s relatives when an argument ensued between them. The now dead man started to act in a disorderly manner and threw down a portable toilet that was on the property where the wedding was being kept.
As such, the convict picked up a dabla (large wooden spoon) and dealt Henry several blows about his body. The man fell unconscious but was picked up and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
Dindial was later arrested and prosecuted.
