A death sentence was yesterday handed down to 21-year-old Nazrudeen ‘Buddy’ Jhoot of Cotton Tree, West Coast Berbice who was facing trial at the Berbice High Court for murdering Khemlall Mangal, 43.
Senior State Prosecutor, Prithima Kissoon told the court that Jhoot committed the offence on August 25, 2008.
In a part of the caution statement (CS) that she read, the accused admitted that he and Mangal had been engaged in an altercation, which ended in the trench.
He had admitted that he went home for a knife while Mangal called ‘Dereck’ and ‘Ochro’ who had been consuming alcohol, went for a piece of wood. He said that Mangal was about to hit him with the wood when he stabbed him several times.
The prosecutor submitted that the post-mortem report proved that he died of multiple stab wounds including one that pierced the heart. She also successfully argued that the signature on the CS was that of Jhoot. Asked whether he had anything to say before being sentenced, Jhoot told Justice Brassington Reynolds that he did not.
Jhoot’s mother and other family members became emotional and broke down in tears after the judge told him that the jury had returned a verdict of guilty.
He also told the accused that “you shall be taken from this court to a place of lawful execution and you are to be hung by the rope until dead. May the Lord have mercy on you.”
The judge had ruled in the voir dire that the CS was given voluntarily. The CS was also accepted by the mixed jury.
In his closing arguments, attorney-at-law, Charandass Persaud who represented the accused was unable to prove that the signature on the CS was not that of his client.
He argued that “the discrepancies in the evidence of police officers;
Assistant Superintendant Reid and Inspector Karranauth Bejaimal, showed that the two were not together at the time.”
After the jury returned with the guilty verdict, Persaud appealed for discretion because at the time of the committal of the offence Jhoot was just over 17 years of age. However, according to regulations, Jhoot was not deemed a juvenile.
Jhoot had told the court that his mother had given him consent and he left for Lethem on August 25, 2008 to seek employment.
He had said that he tried unsuccessfully for three to four days to call his girlfriend, Lisa, Mangal’s 14-year-old daughter. He eventually got through and said “she was crying and told me that her father was killed.”
Persaud told this newspaper that he was “disappointed with the verdict but the jury found him guilty and I cannot argue with that.” He could not say at this time if the matter would be appealed.
Reports are that Mangal sustained the wounds while the two were fighting in the trench close to his home. Jhoot had reportedly fled the scene at this stage.
Mangal reportedly crawled out and sat on a bench outside his stationery store where he bled to death without being taken to the hospital. Police later retrieved the murder weapon from the trench.
His wife of 25 years, Ivorene Dukhia had said that she and Lisa had travelled to Georgetown. When they returned around 1:45 pm, she saw a crowd in front of her home.
When she got closer, she observed her husband in a sitting position with blood-covered clothing and he appeared to be dead. She inquired what was wrong and learnt that he had been involved in a fight with the teen.
Dukhia had said that although her husband had warned the attacker to keep away from his daughter that was the first time the two were engaged in a fight.
The woman was concerned that although persons were aware of the fracas no one helped her husband seek medical attention.
