Floyd Ramit was yesterday morning sentenced to 30 years in jail for killing his boss, the owner of Hamson’s General Store, Abdool Farouk Ghanie, during a robbery.
Appearing before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Georgetown, Ramit pleaded guilty to the capital charge which stated that between April 15th and April 16th, 2015, he, in the company of others, murdered Ghanie in the course or furtherance of a robbery.
The court heard from Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy that Ramit, who had his own living quarters at his boss’ premises, took other persons to the man’s residence, where they attacked and proceeded to rob him.
She said that the man was stabbed about the body, but suffered the fatal wound to his heart.
Present at yesterday’s hearing was one of the man’s daughters, who tearfully recalled the fun-loving person her father was, and how much he is missed by the family, which remains devastated by his loss.
She described the manner in which his life was taken as shocking, but said it still was not nearly as shocking as the hands that took it.
In a victim impact statement, the woman, who sobbed uncontrollably, said that Ramit was like a son to her father, who she said would have given him anything he needed.
She said the betrayal was painful, even as she looked at her father’s killer and repeatedly asked: “Why?”
“You did not have to kill him. You know that? You had access to my father’s house. You lived among us. You eat with us,” she told Ramit, while noting that she and her siblings have been deprived of their father and their children, a grandfather.
In his brief and barely audible address to the court, the offender told the man’s daughter that he was sorry for what he had done.
Noting, however, the nature, gravity and prevalence of such offences, Hardy asked the judge to impose a sentence which would so reflect; and send a strong message of deterrence to potential offenders.
She said that this case was particularly troubling, especially since Ghanie trusted his employee.
Justice Kissoon commenced the sentence at a base of 40 years.
The judge said that he considered aggravating factors, such as the use of a knife, the degree of planning and premeditation which had gone into executing the act, the fact that it was done in the act of a robbery, and the position of trust the offender would have breached.
Justice Kissoon said he considered also that Ramit had fled to the interior after committing the crime, before being apprehended some three months after and the fact that he made the decision that Ghanie had to die, knowing that he would be able to identify him.
In considering the mitigating circumstances, the judge noted Ramit’s early plea, which he said saved the state money and the court considerable time in otherwise having to conduct a trial.
Further to that the judge said he considered that the offender had no antecedents and expressed remorse for what he had done.
As a result, a total of 16 years were deducted and six years were added, resulting in the sentencing being 30 years. Justice Kissoon then ordered that the prison make deductions for the time Ramit would have spent on remand awaiting trial.
Ramit was represented by attorney Maxwell McKay.
Ghanie, 56, was found by his wife on April 16th, 2015, on the premises of his Nandy Park, East Bank Demerara home with multiple stab wounds about his body.
