Shivanand Roopnarine was yesterday morning handed a life sentence for the brutal slaying of his girlfriend, Sophia teen Alicia McPherson, whom he stabbed more than 40 times in 2015.
Appearing before High Court judge Sandil Kissoon moments after the opening of the Demerara Criminal Assizes, Roopnarine, 26, threw himself at the mercy of the court as he took full responsibility for the killing.
He admitted that on April 19th, 2015, he murdered the 18-year-old McPherson.
Before his sentence was imposed, Roopnarine, in a sometimes barely audible tone, said he was sorry for what he had done, even as he begged the court for mercy and the teen’s tearful family for forgiveness and noted that he has since changed his life.
Following Roopnarine’s address to the young girl’s family, her mother, Denise McPherson, related to the court how devastating her loss has been to the family circle, how much she is missed and the trauma they still face trying to come to grips with her death.
Between sobs, the woman, in a victim-impact address to the court, explained that while she now feels a sense of justice, she still has to continue trying to cope with losing her daughter, which she emphasised is extremely difficult.
Looking at her daughter’s killer, she repeatedly asked “Why?” She also enquired from him why he did not approach her (Denise), if there may have been any problem between him and Alicia.
Presenting the facts of the case, Prosecutor Tiffini Lyken said that on the night of April 18th, 2015, both Alicia and Roopnarine, with whom she shared a relationship at the time, were at a party.
While there, the court heard that Alicia had introduced Roopnarine to a young man whom he had accused her of having an affair with, in a bid to convince him that the relationship with the young man was purely platonic.
Lyken said that sometime after, Roopnarine was seen carrying a long pointed shiny object while Alicia’s lifeless body was discovered the next day.
The prosecutor said that it was during police investigations that Roopnarine then confessed to committing the crime, while stating that he “felt betrayed.”
She said that an autopsy performed on Alicia’s remains revealed that she died from haemorrhage and shock due to puncture wounds all over her body, which bore “41 stab wounds.”
Noting the heinous nature of the crime, Prosecutor Lyken had asked Justice Kissoon to impose a sentence which would reflect the nature and gravity of the offence, while underscoring how scarred the incident has left the family of the deceased.
She said it was not Roopnarine’s place to determine whether a person live or dies and he had no right to make such a
determination by taking his girlfriend’s life. For such acts she asked for a sentence which would deter potential offenders and send a strong message of condemnation to society.
Meanwhile, in a plea of mitigation on behalf of his client, defence attorney Siand Dhurjon said that his client, who was 22 years old at the time, was intoxicated and unaware of what he was doing.
For the more than four years he has been on remand, Dhurjon said, Roopnarine, a first-time offender, has been a model prisoner.
Counsel further told the court that his client did not have the advantage of sound parental guidance, having lost his father at the tender age of eight, while his mother struggles with alcoholism.
In passing sentence, Justice Kissoon said that notwithstanding the young man’s expression of remorse and regret, he nonetheless had to consider both the mitigating and aggravating circumstances of the case.
Against this background, he said that while the offender was only 22 years old at the time of the offence and had no antecedents and admitted guilt at the first available opportunity, those factors had to be weighed against the brutal manner in which McPherson’s life was taken and how young she also was at the time of her death.
The judge explained that he also had a duty to consider the impact the young woman’s passing continues to have on her family, and the prevalence of domestic violence-related killings and the strong message of deterrence which needed to be sent to society, especially potential offenders.
Particularly underscoring the 41 times McPherson was stabbed, Justice Kissoon said that premeditation and planning had gone into committing the act by the offender, who was nabbed by the police almost one year after. The young man had fled to the interior.
In all the circumstances, the judge then sentenced Roopnarine to life in prison, ordering that he is not to become eligible for parole until after he would have served 20 years.
