Holding strongly to the view that he is the rightful owner of a plot of land over which he was found guilty of murdering his neighbour, Sukhdeo Dharamdat was yesterday sentenced to 65 years behind bars for the crime at the High Court in Georgetown.
His son, Ishwar Dharamdat, who was also charged with the murder but convicted on the lesser offence of manslaughter, was also sentenced yesterday to a term of imprisonment for 20 years.
Noting the dispute over the land as being the motive behind what she described as Suresh Nandkishore’s “senseless killing,” Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy had asked Justice Navindra Singh to impose sentences which would reflect the nature and gravity of the offences committed.
The Dharamdat men were each found guilty following a trial last month, but their sentencing had been deferred to yesterday to facilitate the preparation and presentation of probation reports.
Following the elder Dharamdat’s address to the court in which he went on for some five minutes about the land belonging to him, Justice Singh said that though he hoped otherwise, Dharamdat only confirmed that his actions, which claimed Nandkishore’s life, was fuelled by his desire for the land.
“You’re a crazy person,” the judge told an expressionless Sukhdeo, while highlighting what he described as the “exceptional cruelty” exerted on Nandkishore, who was beaten with a plank to his head, which cracked his skull.
Even after being stopped by the judge and asked if there was nothing he wanted the court to consider before sentence was imposed, Dharamdat, before saying “I am not satisfied with the judgment I get,” again went on about the land belonging to him.
The judge sought to explain to the man that the trial had already ended and the jury had spoken, so that any explanation about the incident or even the land was, therefore, unimportant
Sukhdeo nonetheless, spoke of the land having been left to him by his grandmother and that he had been victimised by the Nandkishores.
Noting, however, the convict’s preoccupation with the land, notwithstanding a court ruling and the fact that someone
had lost their life and another was left crippled during the attack carried out by Sukhdeo, Justice Singh said that he
was clearly still not prepared to take responsibility for his actions.
Pointing out that Dharamdat showed not an iota of remorse or regret for what he had done, the judge said that not only did it confirm what the jury from its verdict obviously believed, but also the findings of a probation report.
The judge noted that from the probation report prepared and submitted to the court on Sukhdeo, members of his Handsome Tree, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara neighbourhood, and even his relatives described him as someone who was known in the area for bullying persons for their land.
Emphasising that there were mitigating factors to consider, the judge imposed the 65-year sentence on Dharamdat. The sentence commenced at a base of 60 years, to which 10 years were added for exceptional cruelty. However, five years were deducted for time Sukhdeo had spent on remand awaiting trial.
Given a chance to address the court, the younger Dharamdat, like his father, began by rehashing the events of the day of the killing, but once cautioned by the judge to address the court on the conviction and impending sentence, said that he was “sorry for everything that happen.”
Though professing his innocence and stating that he was not satisfied with the jury’s decision, he emphasised, “I apologise for everything.”
After his address to the court, and referencing a probation report submitted on him, Justice Singh expressed the belief that the young man was “not a bad person, and was genuinely sorry for what had happened.” “Yuh father put yuh in a lot of stupidness,” the judge added.
The judge told Ishwar that while he understood that Sukhdeo was his father, he was a “bad influence” in his life.
Justice Singh opined that from the verdict of manslaughter returned against the young man by the jury, it must have been sympathetic towards him and felt that while he was also responsible for the killing, he ought not to have been as culpable as his father.
Noting that his father, by his actions, had ultimately caused Ishwar to be imprisoned, the judge rhetorically questioned, “And for what?” He pointed out that because of all that had transpired, Ishwar had also lost his brother.
One of Dharamdat’s other sons—Chaitram Dharamdat— had also been arrested for the murder. He was, however, among the more than a dozen prisoners who perished in the 2016 fire set by other inmates at the Camp Street Prison.
Having considered all the circumstances of the case against the younger Dharamdat, Justice Singh commenced at the 30-year sentence which manslaughter convictions attract. From that, he then deducted five years for his show of remorse and an additional five years for the favourable probation report submitted on his behalf. “Good luck, and keep doing the right thing,” the judge admonished Ishwar, before he and his father were escorted from the courtroom.
It had been the prosecution’s case that the Dharamdat men murdered Nandkishore on February 3rd, 2015 at Handsome Tree, Mahaica, East Coast Demerara, during an attack in which his father and brother were also injured.
Prosecutor Hardy had said the onslaught was fuelled by a bitter dispute over land, which was awarded by the court to the Nandkishores.
During the trial, brother of the deceased, Parmanand Nandkishore, had recalled accompanying his father, Gopaul Nandkishore, and his brother, to their Handsome Tree property, where they had gone to repair a fence.
According to Nandkishore, the Dharamdats had become enraged after the portion of disputed land was awarded to his father following a lengthy court trial.
He had said that while preparing to construct the fence that day, they were attacked by Sukhdeo and his sons.
A 26-year-old chartered accountant at the time of his death, Suresh, also known as ‘Ravo,’ was said to have died of trauma and haemorrhaging in the brain.
Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, had given the cause of death as cerebral haemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma to the head.
