Mon Repos man gets 4 years for killing bandit who attacked father

…father released on time served

A 30-year-old man has been sentenced to four years’ imprisonment over the death of a bandit, whom he admitted to stabbing with a pair of scissors. He has been convicted for the lesser offence of manslaughter. The bandit had attacked and robbed his now 55-year-old father of a gold chain.
Initially indicted for the capital offence of murder, Andrew Singh and his father Suraj Singh had pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter before Justice Sandil Kissoon last month.
The duo, of Lot 248 Mon Repos Pasture, East Coast Demerara (ECD), admitted to killing 23-year-old Brian Dwarka, a labourer of Mon Repos, on May 27, 2018.
Their sentencing hearing had been adjourned until Thursday to allow for the compilation of probation reports and submissions by lawyers for the defence and prosecution.

During the sentencing hearing, Justice Kissoon disclosed that Dwarka met his demise after he attacked and robbed Suraj while he was in a drunken state and was armed with a cutlass. Andrew, the Judge said, then stabbed Dwarka once with a pair of scissors.
The Judge explained that the men’s guilty plea to the lesser offence was accepted because the issue of provocation and the right of a person to defend his/her own life (self-defence) and property arose from the evidence.
“Extremely troubling”, Justice Kissoon noted, was the attempt by the prosecution’s witnesses to conceal the events that occurred on the night of May 27, 2018 leading up to Dwarka’s death.
For her part, defence lawyer Latchmie Rahamat implored the Judge to temper justice with mercy, noting that it was Dwarka’s criminal conduct that resulted in his death. According to her, Dwarka, who was in the company of other men, attacked and chopped Suraj to his foot and ankle, before relieving him of his gold chain.

She said that when Andrew saw his father being attacked, Dwarka and another man, who was armed with a pair of scissors, ran towards the younger Singh and began attacking him. Andrew, the lawyer recounted, then relieved Dwarka’s accomplice of the weapon, which he in turn used to stab Dwarka once to his chest.
Counsel contended that her client’s action is justifiable under the Constitution, which permits a person to use reasonable and justifiable force in defence of themselves and their property.
It was reported that after being stabbed, Dwarka fell on the ground, and was later picked up by his mother and other relatives and rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The men were later apprehended – the elder Singh at the Georgetown Public Hospital, after he had reportedly reported to the Police station that he had been attacked and robbed, and had been sent for a medical, while the younger Singh was found hiding in a toilet at his home.
After considering the facts, the probation reports, the submissions made by lawyers on both sides, and the principles of sentencing, the Judge sentenced Andrew to nine years’ imprisonment, from which he deducted five years for the time the convict had spent in pre-trial detention. This means that Andrew has to spend only another four years in custody.
As for his father, Justice Kissoon ordered that the middle-aged man be released from prison immediately, on time served.
The Judge has reprimanded Andrew for his actions, pointing out that it is not open to any member of the public to take matters into their own hands. In light of what transpired on the day in question, the Judge said, the younger Singh should have reported the incident to the Police.
Meanwhile, a post-mortem examination performed on Dwarka’s body had declared that he died as a result of perforation of the lungs and the heart due to a stab wound he sustained.
Suraj and his son had first been charged with Dwarka’s murder on May 30, 2018. Following a preliminary inquiry, they had both been committed to stand trial at the High Court in Demerara. Prior to their incarceration on the murder charge, they had both had an unblemished criminal record.