A man was yesterday sentenced to 23 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to the 2012 killing of a United States-based Guyanese man who had returned to Guyana for what he thought would be a vacation.
Pooran Jaundoo, 30, was sentenced to 23 years by Justice Brassington Reynolds at the High Court in Berbice, after the court heard that he had plotted with others, including Majid’s wife, to carry out the murder.
In a summary of the prosecution’s case, State Attorney Abigail Gibbs told the court that in April, 2012, the accused, in the company of others, murdered Abdool Shakeel Majid.
She said the deceased resided in the US but left in April, 2012 in the company of his wife, Hemwattie Abdulla, who has already been convicted and sentenced to death for his murder, to come to Guyana.
While Majid was in Guyana, the accused, the deceased’s wife and another, Seerojini Permaul, who was also sentenced to death for Majid’s murder, came up with a plan to rob and murder him.
Gibbs said the murder transpired at the Number 63 Beach, after which the accused fled to Suriname.
However, in January of 2016, the accused was deported to Guyana and he was arrested and then confessed to his role in the murder.
She said the accused had admitted that the deceased’s wife and Permaul, who is his mother-in-law, had asked him to rob the deceased for which he was to be paid $100,000.
According to the prosecutor, Jaundoo had related that on the day in question they went to Number 63 beach and he walked up to Majid, pushed him down and told him to give him everything. The others were armed with a crowbar, hammer and a wooden axe handle, which were all used in killing Majid.
After the murder was completed, the accused was given US$3,000, which he then deposited in a bank account.
According to the prosecutor, the state is in receipt of documents corroborating the information.
Meanwhile, Gibbs noted that after not hearing from Majid for some time, his relatives overseas became concerned and his brother visited the country.
After learning of an unidentified body being found at Number 63 Beach, Majid’s brother subsequently identified him.
In March, 2018, Majid’s wife, Hemwattie Abdulla, also known as ‘Annie’, and Permaul, known as ‘Usha,’ were both sentenced to death for his murder after they were found guilty of the crime.
Majid and his wife had returned to Guyana in April, 2012 with the intention of spending a two-week vacation. However, five days later, Majid’s battered body, with the scalp missing, was found at Number 63 Beach.
At that point in time, Abdulla had already returned to the USA and told Majid’s relatives that he was in Guyana with another person and was planning to head to Suriname. The woman claimed that she had returned home to tend to her daughter since she had suffered a fractured arm.
In 2007, Majid, who had been a taxi driver in New York City, had been involved in an accident, resulting in surgeries and months of being at home, and he was subsequently awarded a settlement.
During Abdulla’s trial, the court heard that Abdulla had admitted that she had visited Permaul and told her that she was encountering difficulties with her husband and she wanted her to find someone to kill him. She also said that she would give US$5,000 to Permaul to find someone.
However, Permaul, in her statement, had claimed that Abdulla had given her the money one day before the murder, and had told her to give to it to her son-in-law, Jaundoo.
