Johnathan Budhan, 21, was yesterday morning sentenced to 25 years behind bars for killing a man with a cricket bat back in 2016.
Though convicted by a jury last month, Budhan’s sentencing had been deferred to facilitate the preparation of a probation report, which was laid over to the court yesterday but not read.
In imposing the sentence on a sobbing Budhan, Justice Singh said that contrary to the young man’s story of spontaneous retaliation, the evidence clearly demonstrated that it was anything but.
As a matter of fact, the judge said that the evidence substantiates that the convict would have concealed the bat with which he later beat Deonarine Ramesh Manbodh, thereby dispelling any suggestion that it just happened to be where it was.
The judge further pointed out that even after the initial hit, Budhan continued inflicting blows on Manbodh.
In the circumstances, Justice Singh told Budhan that he found the jury’s guilty verdict for manslaughter as against murder to have been a merciful one.
The jury’s verdict on the lesser count had been by a proportion of 10 to 2.
Justice Singh opined that the tears being shed by Budhan had nothing to do with his remorse for the deceased as he would have the court believe, but rather because he was sorry for himself.
In a tearful address to the court, Budhan said he was sorry for what had happened, even as he begged the many relatives of the deceased who were seated in the courtroom for their forgiveness, and the judge to be merciful on him.
Justice Singh said that had it not been for the stirring plea in mitigation made by Budhan’s attorney Nigel Hughes, his intentions were to impose a sentence of life in prison.
In an impassioned plea, Hughes had begged Justice Singh to be lenient with his client, citing the many taunts often meted out to him from the now deceased Manbodh, to which he said the young man never responded, prior to the killing.
He asked the court, too, to consider that it was not Budhan who was the aggressor, but rather Manbodh.
According to counsel, his client, “in a moment of less than lucid judgment responded emotionally.”
Hughes added that his client has had no previous brushes with the law.
For her part, however, Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy had asked that a sentence be imposed which would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence committed, while noting that a mother had lost a son, while children had lost a father.
The particulars of the charge against Budhan had stated that on October 25th, 2016, he murdered Manbodh at Best Village, West Coast Demerara. While he did not deny hitting the man with the bat, he contended that his actions were in self defence.
Professing his innocence at the close of the prosecution’s case against him, Budhan, in his brief address to the court in unsworn testimony from the prisoner’s dock, had said, “Your Honour, I’m innocent of this charge.”
Highlighting Manbodh as the aggressor—which the prosecution did not deny, though it rejected his defence—Hughes, in his closing address to the jury, had stressed the law’s recognition of a person defending themselves if being attacked.
The facts presented during the trial were that the offender and Manbodh’s niece shared a relationship, which the young girl’s family did not approve.
The court had heard that on the day in question, after seeing his niece speaking to Budhan, the now deceased Manbodh, after taking her home, rushed over to Budhan’s home where he confronted him in a rage.
Hughes said it was at this point that his client impulsively armed himself with the cricket bat, which was at the gate close to where the deceased advanced towards him, and dealt him several lashes. The man would later succumb to the injuries sustained.
Budhan’s aunt Basmattie Baksh, had testified that Manbodh had rushed past her at the gate and into her yard, just after reaching to his waist.
Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy, however, disputed the woman’s account of the deceased ever reaching to his waist, while contending that the accused began beating the unarmed man about his body with the cricket bat.
Under cross-examination by Hughes, Manbodh’s now 20-year-old niece did not deny that though the young man had made repeated efforts to avoid her, it was she who kept pursuing him.
The court had heard that on the night in question, Budhan, against his initial intentions, acceded to the then 16-year-old’s request to follow her home, only because it was dark and getting late, after seeing her at the Vreed-en-Hoop Ferry Stelling. It was during this journey that they encountered Manbodh.
