“Soldier Man” gets 12-year prison sentence for mall owner’s killing

… “My life, my dreams, they were all shattered” – victim’s daughter

Thirty-nine-year-old Lennox “Soldier Man” Roberts, who admitted to fatally shooting 48-year-old mall owner Ganesh Ramlall, has been sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

The sentence was imposed on the former Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) resident by Demerara High Court Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall on Thursday.
Roberts, called ‘Robby’, was charged with the businessman’s murder jointly with Fazeel Bacchus, 25, of Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara (WCD) and Kurt ‘Banana Man’ Erskine, 39, formerly of Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD). Bacchus was also used as a witness for the state.
Roberts and Bacchus, who were represented by Attorneys-at-Law George Thomas and Mark Conway respectively, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter. Erskine, who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Lyndon Amsterdam, was tried, and was last week found guilty by a jury of Ganesh Ramlall’s murder.
Sentencing for Erksine has been deferred until March 28, in order to facilitate the presentation of a probation report and a victim impact statement. Bacchus, on the other hand, has been handed a six-year prison term. He was, however, released on time served, as his prison sentence was fully served by the time he had spent in pre-trial custody.
Ganesh Ramlall, a father of one, who was the owner of the popular Regent Multiplex Mall at Regent Street, Georgetown, was shot eight times about his body, including once to his head, at around 00:10h on July 5, 2015 at his La Jalousie, WCD home.
Reports are that the businessman had just returned home from a barbeque with friends when he proceeded to use an outdoor bathroom on his premises. But as he walked into his yard, he was pounced upon by four men, who opened fire on him. His wife raised an alarm, and neighbours fired shots at the bandits, but the men managed to escape with his jewellery and wallet.
Ganesh Ramlall was rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
His relatives quickly posted a $5 million reward for anyone with information on his killers. Shortly after, Police raided a house in Craig, EBD, where Bacchus and Roberts, along with several others, were arrested.
When interrogated, the two men confessed to murdering the business owner. They later implicated Erskine. It was reported that the men had hatched a plot to rob Ganesh Ramlall two months prior to his demise.

Life, dreams shattered
In an emotional statement to the court, Ganesh Ramlall’s daughter, Sharmila Ramlall, expressed that the death of her father, whom she described as her “best friend” and a “gem”, has shattered her life and dreams.
“My life, my dreams, they were all shattered. My father was my everything. He was my best friend, my shoulder, my strength, my biggest supporter. For as long as I can remember myself, my father was holding my hand or fetching,” she said.
Losing a parent, she revealed, has always been her nightmare as a young child growing up. She added that she now knows that, even then, the fear only gave her a glimpse of the pain.
According to her, losing a parent is something you can only understand if you have lost one, “let alone having them snatched from you”.
The young woman told the court that she cannot begin to explain the emotional trauma she has experienced from losing her “perfect person”.

Haunts my thoughts
She added, “Yes, I have taken therapy, and I am still in therapy. The sad thing, though, is that my father, around whom my world revolved, being murdered isn’t something I can come to terms with. It pains the core of my being to know how life was snatched from him. I hurt for him, because he worked so hard and he was such a good person.
“My father didn’t just die; he was murdered cold-bloodedly and very cruelly. The terror of my father’s screams, the sound of the bullets while being locked in a room haunts my thoughts ever so often. Seeing my father in blood torments my mind daily. There has not been a proper sense of happiness or peace since July 5th, 2015.”
She noted that the persons who killed her father have no value for life, and no remorse for the life they took. Despite being hundreds of miles away, Sharmila Ramlall disclosed, she is constantly jittery in fear, restless at the onset of night when she is not in her home, and paranoid about her security.
“Fireworks terrify me. I stayed away from my family for years because home now terrifies me. I feel like I am imprisoned. Emotional torment wasn’t even half of the overturn. I had always wanted to become a doctor specialising in cardiothoracic surgery. All of my life, my parents and I prepared so happily for it.”
She continued: “My father was the head of our home. I always said if there were a hundred parts to a family, my dad would be 98 and my mother and I one each. His presence, his being, was so magnanimous, loving and compassionate. Family meant everything; he took all the burdens of the business and finances.
“I do not know how to live or trust. I need everyone to understand that my father’s life was valued. He was an asset. I need the peace of knowing the perpetrators are being punished as I have been. I should have never lost my father, my person.

“I’m very sorry”
“I learn from my mistake; I’m very sorry,” a crying Roberts said as he pleaded with the court for mercy and forgiveness.
His lawyer, George Thomas, informed that his client has attended anger management classes provided by the Prison Service, and is gainfully employed as a barber.
The Prosecutor, Attorney-at-Law Narissa Leander, while highlighting that the businessman’s killing was senseless, urged the court to impose a sentence that reflects the serious nature of the crime, and serve as a deterrent to like-minded persons.
For her part, Justice Morris-Ramall outlined that in calculating an appropriate sentence for the confessed killer, she considered the gravity of the offence and the impact the man’s untimely death has had on his family and other loved ones.
The High Court Judge also noted the inconsistency regarding Roberts’s expression of remorse in the probation report, in which he proclaimed his innocence, but in court he begged for forgiveness. Roberts, in the probation report, claimed that he was influenced by friends. But considering his mature age at the time, Justice Morris-Ramlall said that society expected him to be responsible.
Although he was not at the scene of the crime, the Judge regarded Roberts as a principal participant, since he was involved in the plan to rob the businessman.
Having weighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, Justice Morris-Ramlall held that an appropriate sentence for the offender is 18 years in prison.
From the 18-year sentence, Roberts was given a one-third deduction, amounting to six years, for his early guilty plea. In the end, he was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, less the time he has already spent in pre-trial custody.