Death row inmate, Ramesh Sahadeo will now spend 20 years in jail after the Court of Appeal yesterday changed his murder conviction to the lesser count of manslaughter, after finding that the trial judge failed to properly direct the jury on several issues including provocation.
Sahadeo, a Bush Lot, West Coast Berbice tractor operator was in February, 2013 sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of 17-year-old Darshanan Ramanan by Justice Brassington Reynolds. The teen had sustained a single slash with a cutlass which resulted in his death.
Appellate judge, Arif Bulkan in reading the court’s ruling said that the learned trial judge erred in law in relation to several of his directions to the jury particularly as it relates to provocation and self-defence.
