When 39-year-old Toltaram Lalta appeared before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Berbice High Court on Wednesday, he expressed regret for his drunken actions which resulted in the death of his elderly mother, 78-year-old Jagranie Ramotar, and pleaded for leniency before being jailed for 12 years.
Lalta, of Adelphi Village, East Canje Berbice, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne), had been indicted for the murder of his mother, but opted to plead guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter on May 23 — the day his trial was set to commence.
In a caution statement, Lalta, Jagranie Ramotar’s biological son, related that he came home intoxicated on October 14, 2019 after a night out with friends, and saw his mother in the kitchen. He then slapped her multiple
Jailed: Toltaram Lalta
times, causing her to fall and hit her head.
After noticing his mother bleeding from her nose, Lalta said, he went outside. Due to the severity of her injuries, the injured woman was eventually taken to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, and was later referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
She was discharged on November 10, 2019, but died a few days later at her home.
At Lalta’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday, he expressed regret for his actions, stating, “I regret my actions. I am very, very sorry for what I have done. May my mother’s soul rest in peace.”
His sister, in a victim impact statement, begged the Judge to have mercy on her brother. “I forgive my brother…I know in his heart he didn’t mean to do it,” she told the court.
While Lalta’s attorney, Surihya Sabsook, asked the court to have mercy on her client, State Prosecutor Muntaz Ali highlighted that the convict had been in the habit of abusing his mother.
According to Ali, Lalta had previously been jailed for six months for threatening and assaulting his mother.
“He was unprovoked at the time of the incident, and acted recklessly to his mother,” Ali said, as he recounted the attack which led to the pensioner’s death.
In her sentencing remarks, Justice Morris-Ramlall said that instead of honouring the woman who had nurtured, protected, and cared for him, Lalta had disrespected her.
“Parents expect and are entitled to be honoured, and, in the advanced stages of life, to be cared for. The offender breached that trust that was reposed in him, and instead of showing love and gratitude, he was reckless and physically abusive towards his mother. This was a pattern, and there were, in fact, numerous Police reports of his abuse,” the Judge remarked.
In the circumstances, the convict was jailed for 12 years, less time served on remand.
