The five men who pleaded guilty to the murder of four fishermen in May 2016 during a horrific pirate attack on the Corentyne River were yesterday sentenced to death at the High Court in Berbice.
Ramchan Latchman of Number 65 Village, Ganesh Naidoo of Number 79 Village, Ramesh Singh of Liverpool Village, Stephon Leacock, of Lot 366 Number 77 Village and Leon Sammy of Lot 1 Number 75 Village, Corentyne, were charged with four counts of murder during the course of piracy. The death penalty is not being enforced here.
In 2016, the men who are all fishers, were charged with murdering Hemchand Sookdeo of Number 55 Village during the course of piracy on May 28, 2016.
While Sookdeo’s body was found tangled in seines with a chop wound to the back of his head hours after the attack, three other crew members: Munesh Churman, called ‘Boyo,’ 26; Dochan Sukra, 54, called ‘Butcher’ and Dhanpaul Ramphal, all of whom hailed from the Upper Corentyne, were feared to have died in the attack. Their bodies have never been recovered.
Initially, Singh, Leacock and Naidoo all pleaded guilty to the men’s murders while Sammy subsequently pleaded guilty.
Latchman who had opted to stand trial eventually entered a guilty plea mid-trial at the High Court in Berbice before Justice Sandil Kissoon.
In sentencing the men yesterday, Justice Kissoon stated that the crime is a horrific one of complete savagery committed by the accused on the victims – innocent and helpless fishermen in a violent and murderous rampage of piracy, hijacking, and robbery beginning on the night of 27 May, 2016 and continuing on the 28th of May, 2016, “culminating in the merciless murders and slaughter of multiple innocent, helpless citizens all of whom were fishermen.”
In further calling the murders a “merciless slaughter”, Justice Kissoon told the accused that the only penalty prescribed by law for the offence of murder while committing piracy under Section 7 of the Hijacking and Piracy Act is the sentence of death. As such in accordance with the law, he said, “each of you are hereby sentenced to suffer death in the manner prescribed by law in relation to each count in the indictment. That is the sentence of the court.”
The attack occurred around 11 pm in the Lower Shell Area, Nickerie, Suriname, where the men were aboard the missing Rosana 664, which was captained by the lone survivor, Seepersaud Persaud, 43, of Number 78 Village, Corentyne.
Persaud had told Stabroek News that they were out at sea when another boat approached and five men boarded their vessel. They were ordered to go into their cabin. “Dem use abbi boat to hijack dem rest boat,” he said. “Abbi go near two other boats and dem tek way de fish and dem make me drive to shore. When me drive to shore, them tie up three a me workmen and one a he workman come and check the engine and say de man a call me in front. When me go in front, he a tell me fa throw me workmen overboard. And when me say me na go throw dem, he shove me over and gone with the four of them,” he added.
The Guyana Police Force, in a press release had said the armed men boarded the boat and they took away two 48 HP outboard motor engines, tied up the four crew members and threw Persaud overboard. He was subsequently rescued by the crew of another fishing vessel in the area after drifting for some time.
While at sea, Persaud managed to contact persons at the Number 66 Fishing Complex and informed them of the attack and gave a description of the boat that was used by the perpetrators, the police said.
The following day the police went to the Number 65 Village foreshore, Corentyne, where they saw a boat matching the description given. Five men who were aboard were arrested.
