The Guyana Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed the 25-year sentence imposed by a High Court judge upon Dineshwar Sooklall for the brutal 2004 rape and killing of 12-year-old Julie Johanna Sooklall of Wakenaam.
Sooklall, who was committed to stand trial for the November 23, 2004 murder of the young girl, had pleaded not guilty to the capital offence and admitted instead to the lesser count of manslaughter.
Sooklall had been charged along with Azaharudeen Mohamed, called “Rocky,” and Kumar, called “Ratta,” with the young girl’s murder.
Justice Claudette La Bennett, who had accepted Sooklall’s plea, thereafter sentenced him on July 24, 2006 to 25 years in jail.