Murder accused Chandrapaul Chatteram was yesterday sentenced to serve 10 years in prison after a jury found him guilty on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Chatteram was on trial before Justice Navindra Singh in the High Court for the killing of Gopaul Singh, who he hit in the head with a beer bottle on July 29, 2007 at a wedding house at Fourth Street, Better Hope, East Coast Demerara. Singh was subsequently hospitalised and succumbed to his injuries.
Just about two hours after the case was handed over to the 12-member jury, jurors returned with the unanimous verdict of not guilty on the charge of murder but guilty on the charge of manslaughter.
Chatteram looked shocked but somewhat happy when he heard the jury found him not guilty of murder but his facial expression quickly changed after he learnt he was found guilty of manslaughter.
Chatteram told the court that he was sorry for what happened when asked by Justice Singh if he had anything to say before penalty was imposed on him.
Before sentencing, Justice Singh told the accused that he could not understand how he could have gone to a place of joy and fun and acted without regard for human life. In deciding Chatteram’s fate, Justice Singh said he would take into consideration, based on the jury’s verdict of manslaughter, the fact that Chatteram did not intended to kill Singh, the number of years that he was incarcerated and the mitigating plea that his attorney made. He then told Chatteram that he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
The state was represented by prosecutors Konyo Thompson and Dhanika Singh, while Chatteram was represented by attorney Peter Hugh.
Earlier yesterday, Justice Singh had overruled the no-case submission made by Hugh and asked the accused to lead a defence. Chatteram declared his innocence of the crime through an unsworn statement to the court. The prosecution then closed its case and final arguments were made to the jury by both the defence and prosecution.
Earlier in the trial, the prosecution had presented one of the key witnesses, Ronald Dhanraj, who said that he was at the wedding house with Singh and Chatteram and saw when the accused hit Singh with a beer bottle in his head.
The witness said that he held on to the accused after he hit Singh but he attempted to escape. He, however, managed to hold on to him and with the assistance of other men took him to the police station.
