Lennox Roberts, who planned the attack that resulted in the killing of Regent Multiplex Mall owner, Ganesh Ramlall, will be spending just about five years more in prison.
Following the presentation of a probation report and an impact statement yesterday at his sentencing-hearing, where Roberts heard that his actions had left a family devastated, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall commenced his sentence at a base of 18 years, from which she deducted six years as the mandatory one-third de-duction for the early plea.
The judge said she found no reason to deviate from awarding credit therefor.
From the remaining 12 years, she then ordered that the prison authorities will make deductions for time Roberts would have spent on pre-trial remand.
Roberts has been incarcerated since 2015.
Prior to the man’s sentencing, Sharmila Ralmall memorialised her father as a “gem” and her “best friend,” while calling for the peace of knowing that the perpetrators of his killing are punished.
“Losing a parent is something you can only understand if you have lost one, let alone having one snatched from you. There are no goodbyes, no closure, no preparation. It feels like the end of life itself and it is by far the most difficult experience,” she said.
Ganesh Ramlall was killed when bandits attacked him just after he arrived home minutes after midnight on July 5, 2015. They shot him eight times before stripping him of his jewellery.
The man’s now 25-year-old daughter told the court she wanted Roberts to specifically know how his “criminal actions” impacted her life, which she said was “shattered” as was as all her dreams.
She fondly recalled that at 18 years old her father still held her hand to cross the road, walk in malls and school and even prepared all her favorite foods and snacks and packed them not just for her, but all her friends.
“He drove me to classes at 7 am, he waited with snacks after class at 8 am before taking me to school and in the afternoon, he brings another set of food before my last set of lessons,” she told the court.
“My father was my everything. He knew me so well. In him I felt safe, I felt heard, I felt understood, I felt happy,” she continued, as Roberts sat quietly with his head bent, as she spoke of the daddy he took from her.
Sharmila said she is not ashamed to share her loss, which she said she still hasn’t been able to come to terms with and for which she is still undergoing therapy.
“The terror of my father’s screams, the sound of the bullets while being locked in a room haunts my thoughts ever so often. I remember so vividly the feeling of being upstairs and my father downstairs that engulfed me. It felt like insanity, the fears that made me want to up-turn the world if I could. The helpless feeling was suffocating. Seeing my father in blood torments my mind daily,” the young woman told the court.
“My father received eight gunshot wounds. Knowing this and that he wasn’t even given a chance puts me in agony. I am angry, I am frustrated. I am constantly overwhelmed with grieving emotions,” she continued.
Sharmila said that she now constantly lives in fear, is restless at nights, and paranoid about her security, sharing that even fireworks terrify her.
“My father was the head of our home. I always said if there were a hundred parts to a family; my dad would be 98 and my mother and I, one each. His presence, his being was so magnanimous, loving and compassionate” she said.
“I have lost and I shouldn’t have,” she asserted, adding, “I need everyone to understand that my father’s life was valued. He was an asset. I need the peace of knowing the perpetrators are being punished as I have been. I should have never lost my father, my person.”
“I would give anything for a hug from my father,” she said.
‘Took a plea deal’
Meanwhile, in his address to the Court, Roberts, who said that he had “followed friends” that fateful night, sought to impress upon the judge that he had learnt his lesson and begged the family of the deceased for their forgiveness.
Justice Morris-Ramlall would, however, point out to Roberts that his expression of remorse before the court, seemed inconsistent with the position to which he held during his interview with the probation department.
Probation and Social Service Officer Mary Grey told the court that Roberts was adamant about his innocence and had told her that he only “took a plea deal” because of the wellbeing of his three sons.
Meanwhile, pointing out that Roberts was the mastermind behind the fatal robbery, Prosecutor Narissa Leander asked the judge to attach no weight to his ramblings about being influenced by friends.
On this point she noted that from the facts of the case which Roberts did not dispute, it was he who had orchestrated the plan to rob the now-deceased Ramlall, three weeks in advance.
Describing him as one of the “principal offenders,” Leander said that the crime was no “spur of the moment” occurrence, but that Roberts knew exactly what he was doing, pointing out that he had even attended the very Bar-B-Que his victim was at, monitoring his movements that night.
Against this background she asked the judge to consider what she said were the senseless and thoughtless actions of the offender, from which Ramlall’s family is still reeling financially, emotionally and psychologically.
Leander also begged the Court to consider the prevalence of the offence, the fact that the victim was shot a total of eight times and asked for the imposition of a sentence which would reflect those grave circumstances.
‘Better’
Roberts in his address had presented himself as “a better person” since his incarceration, and said that he was ready to make value contributions to society.
Echoing those sentiments, his lawyer, George Thomas, said that the man has been making use of anger-management classes behind bars, where he also gainfully occupies himself as a barber.
He presented his client as reformed and a model prisoner with no antecedents, and who had accepted responsibility for his action at the first-given opportunity.
Having regard to all the circumstances of the case—aggravating and mitigating—Justice Morris-Ramlall imposed the sentence.
Roberts had been originally indicted for murder, along with Faizal Bacchus and Kurt Erskine; but some weeks ago copped to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
Erskine—the only one to face trial—is now awaiting sentencing after a jury last Thursday convicted him for manslaughter.
Earlier this month, Bacchus was released from prison after being credited for time served.
With that credit and other deductions from an 18-year sentence, he was released from prison.
Justice Morris-Ramlall imposed a sentence of 18 years on the former taxi driver, but made a number of deductions, which included among other things, for his early plea.
Following the various deductions, the final remaining sentence of 6 ½ years was also discounted, since the judge ordered that credit be given for the period the offender had spent on remand awaiting trial.
In the circumstances, he has been released from prison.
Particulars of the charge against the trio stated that on July 5th, 2015, they murdered Ramlall during a robbery at his La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara home.
Bacchus had said that he acted as the “lookout.”
