George Paton who the prosecution said was the getaway driver in the robbery, during which Bourda Market cheese vendor Troy Ramalho was shot and killed in 2018, has been sentenced to just about eight years.
Though having previously thrown himself at the mercy of the Court and having pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter, Paton at his sentencing hearing yesterday remained adamant that he had nothing to do with either the robbing or killing Ramalho.
While he said he was sincerely sorry that a life had been lost and express-ed his condolences to the wife and children for their loss, Paton said he had been receiving threats behind bars.
His story is that he was only a taxi driver who transported whom he later realized were bandits who robbed and killed Ramalho.
Paton is one of the three men accused of Ramalho’s murder.
At his arraignment last month, however, at which he said he was not being forced, Paton pleaded to the lesser charge of man-slaughter, admitting that he unlawfully killed the cheese vendor on August 15th, 2018, at Robb Street, Bourda, during the course of a robbery.
In asking the judge to visit Paton with a sentence which would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence, Prosecutor Caressa Henry asked the Court to reject Paton’s story.
She said that his role on the fateful night was the getaway driver, of which she said he was quite aware.
She said that nothing about his conduct following the events of that night substantiates his version of events.
Against this background she said that he never once saw it fit to report the matter to the police, but instead tried to elude lawmen even after crashing into a police vehicle.
She told the court, too, that Paton attempted to hide the car used in the commission of the crime and rubbished his claims of cooperating with the police from the inception of their investigations.
Henry said that in fact, it was not until Paton was apprehended by police months after, that he began assisting with investigations.
She said that he acted in concert with his co-conspirators and must now face the consequences of having been a party to that joint enterprise which by law, places criminal liability on all involved.
His attorney Adrian Thompson had begged for clemency, stating that he only happened to have been the driver on the night in question and knew nothing further.
In arriving at her sentence, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall said that regard had been paid to both the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case.
The judge said that as the getaway driver, though Paton had not physically participated in either the robbery or the shooting, it does not diminish his culpability in a joint enterprise; but did distinguish that it is a mitigating factor when considering sentence.
The judge would then commence the sentence at a base of 18 years.
She said that though the offender expressed remorse, it was merely because Ramalho lost his life, but said it had nothing to do with him accepting responsibility for his actions.
The judge also noted to be an aggravating factor a previous brush which Paton has had with the law.
In mitigation, however, Justice Morris-Ramlall deducted from the base-sentence, the one-third for the offender’s early plea.
To the new total of 12 years, she then ordered that the prison make deductions for time Paton would have spent on remand.
Following all the deductions, the offender will be imprisoned for just about the next eight years.
Widow of the deceased, Precious Ramalho, in her plea for justice for her late husband, said that she is still trying to come to grips with his loss.
She said they always would say that it was only death that would separate them, but the woman in her emotional address to the court said that she has still been unable to accept that separation, because of the brutal manner in which her husband was taken from her.
She said that both her and her children are suffering from the loss of their “beloved” husband and father.
Ramalho, 45, was shot once in the chest while resisting three men who attempted to rob him of his jewellery.
A witness had told police that the gunman discharged a round at Ramalho, who fell instantly.
His accomplices then relieved him of his jewellery and quickly fled the scene.
Ramalho was subsequently rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
