A Williamsburg Village, Corentyne, mason was yesterday found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter at the High Court in Berbice.
Paul Ivor Thom, 47, of Lot 16 ‘A’ Williamsburg Village, Corentyne, and his relatives who were present in court became emotional yesterday after the verdict was read to him.
In August, 2017, Thom was charged with murdering Vishram Mohabir, also known as “Ajai”, a mason of Lot 258 Williamsburg Village, Corentyne.
Thom was represented by attorney-at-law, Surihya Sabsook in the High Court. While the prosecution was represented by attorney, Mandel Moore, who called eleven witnesses.
After the verdict, attorney Sabsook requested a probation report on behalf of her client, after which sentencing was scheduled for September 19 by Justice Priya Sewnarine Beharry.
Mohabir, 19, who was stabbed once in his neck on August 27, 2017, succumbed at the New Amsterdam Public Hospital while receiving treatment for his injury.
Mohabir’s younger brother, Kunal Singh, 15, who sustained several minor stab wounds on both arms, was also rushed to the hospital after the incident. He was treated for his injuries and subsequently released.
Singh, in an interview with Stabroek News in 2017, had stated that a car wash in the area held a ‘Back to School party’, which he attended with his brother and their neighbours. He had said that sometime after 3 am on the day the incident occurred, “Me deh walk a go house and drop me bicycle and then we walk go back fuh collect me buddy [Mohabir] and the man been a sit down over the road, and then he run up just so to me and stab me.”
Singh added, “When he stab me, me call for me friend, and me buddy run and he stab me buddy in he neck.”
Singh had insisted that Thom had launched the attack after being involved in a heated argument with his neighbour.
However, other persons at the party had claimed that the brothers and neighbours were allegedly beating the accused which led to the fatal stabbing.
