Devendra Samaroo, the East Canje man who was found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to his son, whom he had set on fire in 2015, was yesterday sentenced to 20 years in jail by Justice James Bovell-Drakes.
Samaroo, 38, of Gangaram Village, was recently found guilty of committing grievous bodily harm but found not guilty of attempted murder by a jury in the Berbice High Court.
Justice Drakes, at yesterday’s sentencing, told Samaroo that at no point during the trial did he say he had burned his son, Ricky, in the May 7, 2015 incident. Instead, the judge pointed out, he gave an excuse that made absolutely no sense.
Samaroo, a field foreman attached to the Rose Hall Estate, had conducted his own defence. In his sworn testimony, he had told the court that he had returned home after drinking at the Rose Hall Estate Junior Staff Club and at two Chinese restaurants in Canje. According to Samaroo, he had poured methylated spirits underneath his kitchen sink into a hole where there were cockroaches. However, he said he then saw his son, Ricky, who was sitting on the couch, on fire. He said he attempted to put out the fire with his hands, which were not burnt.
Justice Drakes stressed the severity of the injuries that the child suffered, while noting that the now 13-year-old is still receiving treatment. The judge further noted that the child only wanted to be loved.
He questioned Samaroo whether it was his resolution to never consume alcohol again, to which the man responded, “Yes, sir.”
As the judge read Samaroo’s sentence to him, the man wiped tears from his eyes. Drakes urged him to “change his attitude” during the course of his incarceration, while noting that the child could have died and he could have been charged for a more serious offence. He pointed out that Samaroo should consider himself lucky that the child survived.
According to the case presented against Samaroo in the magistrate’s court, the then 11- year-old child was burned after he went to get his father from the Rose Hall Estate Senior Staff Club, where he had been drinking with other staff members.
Around 6pm, the boy and his father left the club and proceeded home. On arrival at home, the father continued to drink alcohol. Two and a half hours later, he left the child at home and went to a nearby shop at Gangaram ball field, where he bought alcohol. The father returned home and continued his drinking. Moments later, he told the boy that he was going out again to buy more beers.
The child pleaded with his father not to go as he did not want to be left alone. Further, he was of the opinion that the accused had had enough and was intoxicated. The boy then closed the door in an attempt to prevent his father from leaving the home but the man became annoyed. He then took off the child’s pants and shirt, leaving him only with his underwear on, and inflicted several lashes on him using a boot.
As a result, the child held on to the father’s feet. The man then picked up a plastic bottle containing methylated spirits, poured the contents on the child before scratching a match and throwing the lit stick on him.
Ricky, who run over to a neighbour’s house, suffered burns to the left side of his face, both arms as well as his neck and thighs. He was taken to the Reliance Police Station and then the New Amsterdam Hospital before being transferred to the Burn Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he remained a patient for twenty eight days. A medical certificate revealed that Ricky suffered second and third degree burns. Ricky testified during the High Court trial.
