Canje man gets 20 years for burning son

Devendra Samaroo

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