Murder accused jailed, fined $2M for drug trafficking

…currently serving life sentence for attempted murder

A man who is currently serving life sentences for attempted murder and armed robbery was on Monday sentenced to four years’ imprisonment along with a fine of $2 million after pleading guilty to trafficking nearly seven pounds of marijuana.

John Caesar, an inmate of Mazaruni Prison, was charged with the offence of possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. He appeared at the Bartica Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Crystal Lambert and confessed to the crime.
In the end, he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and fined $2,587,500.
On March 10, prison officials observed Caesar walking around the prison with a five-gallon bottle in his hand. They called out to him, but he ignored them and continued walking. A prison rank caught up with him and enquired about the contents of the bottle he was carrying and he told them that it was water.
The prison officer collected the bottle and escorted Caesar to an office where the bottle was opened in his presence and found to contain a quantity of leaves seeds and stems suspected to be cannabis along with three cellular phones, three cellular phone chargers, 20 packs of cigarettes and an earpiece.
As such, the attempted murder convict was arrested and taken to the Bartica Police Station where the illicit drug was weighed in his presence. He was later taken back to the penitentiary pending his appearance before a Magistrate.

In October 2018, Caesar was sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty by a jury of violently robbing businesswoman Dhanwantie Phulchand in an attack at City Mall at Regent and Camp Streets, Georgetown.
He was indicted for two offences, namely attempted murder and robbery under arms committed on Phulchand, the owner of Rishma’s Collection, on July 4, 2009. He was sentenced to life in prison on each of the two charges; the sentences will run concurrently. He will be considered eligible for parole after serving 35 years.
Reports state that the woman was alone in her store inside of the City Mall when a man and a woman walked in and demanded that she hand over money. When she refused, she was brutally chopped about her body and beaten.
Caesar, formerly of East Ruimveldt, Georgetown, is also charged with the murder of Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) businessman Romel Edison Gomes.
The charge against him states that on March 12, 2018, in the county of Demerara, he murdered Gomes, a former national footballer.
According to reports, on the day Gomes was murdered, Caesar was reportedly one of two persons last seen at his home. The now dead 32-year-old businessman was allegedly heard arguing with Caesar and another man prior to his death.
It was reported that during the argument, a loud explosion was heard and the suspects fled the scene in Gomes’s motor car – PVV 2057 – which was parked in front of his shop. Gomes was discovered in a pool of blood with his hands bound and gagged with a bandana. He was reportedly found with a gunshot wound to his right temple, a laceration on top of his head, and another wound to the neck.
A post-mortem examination later gave his cause of death as a gunshot wound to the head. Following an investigation, Caesar was arrested and prosecuted.(G1)