Corriverton fisherman Mulshankar Sukharan was on Wednesday sentenced to spend the next 12 years in jail for the fatal stabbing of another man, which the judge said was provoked.
Justice Dawn Gregory imposed the sentence at the Berbice Supreme Court on Sukharan, 21, after he pleaded guilty to killing Krisendatt Kolandawell at No 79 Village Corriverton Corentyne on April 6, 2011.
Although Sukharan, of 24 ‘C’, No 79 Village, Corriverton, Corentyne was charged with murder, he pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter
In determining the sentence, Justice Gregory started off with 25 years but subtracted 13 years;
she took off two years for the time Sukharan had spent in court; six years for his not wasting the court’s time by pleading guilty, and five years because he had been provoked by Kolandawell.
State prosecutor Renita Singh told the court that the fatal altercation stemmed from an earlier incident, during which Sukharan went to the home of Kolandawell and verbally abused his wife. Sukharan launched the verbal attack after the couple failed to employ him.
According to Singh, Kolandawell subsequently went to Sukharan’s home, where he allegedly called out to the accused. He subsequently broke down his door and a scuffle ensued after he entered Sukharan’s residence. She added that the scuffle ended up on the street, where the accused dealt several fatal stabs to Kolandawell’s neck and body.
A post mortem examination performed on Kolandawell’s body found that he died from shock and haemorrhage due to wounds from neck.
Raymond Ali, Sukharan’s lawyer, stated that his client’s actions were provoked.
After the sentence was handed down, Sukharan turned and looked at his 72-year-old grandmother, Mohanie Dasraj, as tears streamed down both their faces.
