Death row inmate Brian Vandeyar had his death sentence commuted to life imprisonment by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang last Thursday.
Chief Justice Chang commuted Vandeyar’s sentence after stating that the constitution provides that before a condemned prisoner can be executed he must appear before the Committee of Prerogative of Mercy. Chief Justice Chang said that since no committee is constituted and no step is being taken to constitute such a committee, Vandeyar cannot be executed for to do so would be unconstitutional and unlawful.
He also added that Vandeyar has been on death row for the past seven years and it would be inhuman and degrading punishment to execute him after such a prolonged delay.
Vandeyar was convicted for the murder of Haimnauth Ramnarine at Governor Light, Mahaicony River and he was sentenced to death on June 30th 2006. He appealed his sentence to the Court of Appeal but the appeal was dismissed some five years after it was filed.
His attorney Maritha Halley from the Legal Aid Clinic said in her written submissions to the court that being under threat of execution by hanging for approximately six years amounts to inhuman and degrading punishment and is in breach of her client’s right which is guaranteed by Article 141(1) of the Constitution of Guyana which states that “No person shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or other treatment.”
Since the passing of his death sentence, Halley submitted that her client has been confined to a poorly ventilated 8 x 8 cell in the condemned section of the prison, referred to as the death row, and the only exercise he receives is walking up and down the corridors.
Her submissions also said that the death row has been described as a prison within a prison and the mental and psychological anguish that a condemned prisoner endures cannot be ignored.
Just like Vandeyar, Oral Hendricks, brothers Bharatraj and Lallman Mulai, Ganga Deolall, Terrence Sahadeo, and brothers Kornel and Daniel Vaux all had their sentences commuted to life in prison in January.
