A Guyanese man on Friday pleaded guilty to second-degree murder of a fellow Guyanese before Schenectady County Judge Karen Drago and will face at least 17 years behind bars
Hours earlier, New Yorker Dhanashar “Tony” Persaud confessed in an eight-page sworn statement that he fatally shot Ganesh Ramgoolam on Feb. 20, 2010, on Maple Avenue.
According to the Times Union, Persaud, 27, got a ride home from work with family members, who later convinced him to take part in the crime, the document stated. A group of heavily armed family members, mostly made up of his cousins, the Parbhudials, had a grievance with another group. On the night he was gunned down, Ramgoolam became ensnared in that dispute, prosecutors have said.
Under the plea bargain, Persaud will be sentenced to 17 years to life in prison when he is sentenced April 8. On the second-degree murder charge alone, he could have faced 25 years to life.
Persaud, the report said, will also have to testify against siblings Vishan Parbhudial, 23, and Angelene Parbhudial, 21, of 935 Maple Ave., Schenectady, and Angelene Parbhudial’s boyfriend, Richard Baliraj, 21, of Queens. They are scheduled to go on trial on Monday before Visiting Schenectady County Judge Polly Hoye on charges of second-degree murder. They also face a variety of other offences, including gang assault, weapons and tampering with physical evidence, the report said.
Omawattie Parbhudial, the Parbhudials’ mother, will be tried at a later date on multiple counts of hindering prosecution.
Hoye on Friday denied Vishan Parbhudial’s motion for a separate trial, the report said.
Persaud’s attorney Michael Mansion on Friday cited the overwhelming evidence as a factor in his client’s decision to confess.
“I think he wisely chose to do this after all the evidence and decided it was in his best interest to cut his losses and admit guilt,” Mansion said.
Last week, another Parbhudial sibling, Adrian, 25, was convicted of numerous charges, the most serious of which was attempted aggravated murder for shooting at two Schenectady police officers. The day after Ramgoolam was killed, a police tactical unit carried out a raid at the Parbhudials’ home as part of their probe into the homicide, the report said.
