-spent a month in hospital after attempting suicide
The co-accused in a house lot scam was remanded to prison yesterday, after a month in hospital to recover from a suicide attempt.
Prem Persaud, who had ingested poison after he learnt that he was wanted by the police for being involved in the scam with his sister, stood uneasily in the courtroom at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
He pleaded “guilty with an explanation” to a joint charge of obtaining money by false pretence, when acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson read it to him.
He admitted that between December 7 last year and January 9 this year, with intent to defraud, he and his sister Sunita Singh obtained $820,000 from Chaitram Baneswar by falsely pretending that they were in the position to obtain a house lot for him at Good Hope, East Bank Demerara, from the Ministry of Housing, knowing the claim to be false.
Singh, his co-accused, was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Wednesday, after she pleaded guilty. Persaud stated that he was hospitalised for almost a month after drinking poison. He explained that he attempted to kill himself because he had a problem with Singh.
Holding his neck, Persaud stated that he had a soar throat since he was discharged from the hospital a short while before attending court.
He said between December last year and January this year he had collected $600,000 from Baneswar and had given the money to Singh, since she assured him that she could get a house lot for Baneswar. He told the court that after some time and still nothing, Baneswar went to look for Singh but couldn’t find her. He said that he, his mother and another sister then joined the search but they still did not find her.
He noted that he drank the poison sometime before his sister was finally located and emphasised that he had only taken $200,000 from the money. Persaud told the court that he is willing to repay Baneswar half of what he is accused of obtaining from him and noted that Baneswar told him that he would resolve the matter if this is done.
Baneswar, who was also present in court, stated that he had agreed to Persaud repaying him $300,000 next Monday and that Persaud would afterwards have to work for the rest of the money to fully compensate him.
The magistrate then ordered that Persaud return to court on April 13 to start repaying Baneswar.
Sunita Singh, of Charles Street, Charlestown, was sentenced to two years imprisonment after she had pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared on Wednesday. On this occasion Baneswar said that Singh allegedly told him that her name was “Indra,” the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry. He said that it was usually Singh who would call and make demands for the money, while Persaud would usually be sent to uplift the cash.