A forty-four year old Corentyne man was yesterday sentenced to 18 years imprisonment at the High Court in Berbice, for the murder of a teenager, who was reportedly a peacemaker in a fight in which he was involved in 2012.
Dharamraj Persaud, also known as ‘Chris’, was jointly charged with his cousin, Yougeshwar Dhanaram, also known as ‘Shem,’ with the April 29th, 2012 murder of Sasenarine Persaud, 17, at Number 70 Village, Corentyne.
However, while Persaud had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, his cousin Dhanaram was released earlier in the month, after the state offered no evidence against him, which had led the judge to order the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Dhanaram who had pleaded not guilty at the beginning of his second
trial earlier in the month, had spent some five years on remand before he was released.
On Tuesday, the court heard the findings of a psychiatric evaluation which had been ordered for Persaud. According to the doctor, Persaud suffers from a personality disorder.
His attorney, Tania Clements had asked the judge, Justice James Bovell-Drakes to take the doctor’s testimony into consideration when sentencing her client.
Sasenarine Persaud’s step-father, Naresh Roopnarine, was heading home when the two accused, Dhanaram and Persaud approached him and an argument ensued. Roopnarine had said the men started to “beat him up,” and Sasenarine Persaud had tried to intervene. The men allegedly turned on the teen and fatally wounded him.
