Meignauth Premraj also known as ‘Smokey’, who last month opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter for the murder of his neighbour, Mark Griffith, was yesterday sentenced to life in prison with the eligibility for parole after completing twenty years.
Griffith called `Rancher’, 40, died on the 17th January 2021.
In October, Premraj entered his guilty plea before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Berbice. The state was represented by Attorney at Law, Muntaz Ali.
According to the facts agreed on, the accused and Griffith were known to each other as they would normally drink alcohol together.
However, on the 17th January 2021 at 16:30hrs, the accused was seen standing on a bridge with a little chopper and was firing chops at Griffith.
The accused was told to desist by everyone present and he ignored their calls and continued. Griffith was seen in the trench with blood about his body. At the time, Griffith was not seen with any weapons.
During the incident, the accused was also seen directing expletives to Griffith.
On the 17th January, 2021, the police went to the home of the accused, Premraj where he was told of the allegation and cautioned. He responded, “Officer `Rancher’ disrespectful, he disrespected me”. He was arrested and taken to the Central Police Station after which he was charged.
On the 18th January, 2021 the police escorted the accused to the scene of the incident where the suspected weapon was retrieved. The accused identified the said knife as the weapon he used to stab the deceased.
In the accused’s statement to the police, he said that he and Griffith began arguing and he decided to go to his aunt. Whilst locking up his gate, Griffith approached him and started lashing him with a cutlass and punched him. The accused took a knife which he had and then stabbed Griffith in his chest and ran away to his aunt’s home.
Griffith was rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His cause of death was given as shock and haemorrhage and a stab wound to the chest.
In issuing his sentence yesterday, Justice Kissoon stated, that the accused violently and viciously carried out the killing not paying heed to those who sought to intervene. He said such attacks continue to escalate unchecked and have caused much alarm in recent times.
He said a deadly weapon – a chopper – was retrieved by the police and confirmed to have been used by the accused to inflict the injuries to vital parts of the body resulting in the death of his childhood friend, Griffith, who was unarmed at the time.
Justice Kissoon pointed out that the accused was convicted in 1999 and 2012 for robbery with violence and armed robbery.
As such, Premraj was sentenced to life in prison with the court ordering that he spend a minimum term of twenty years before being eligible for parole. His time spent on remand will be credited to his sentence.
The court also ordered that he should benefit from all classes and training programmes to arm him with an occupation upon his release as well as anger management programmes.
