The Guyana Court of Appeal on Monday upheld the convictions of Rafael Morrison and Joshua Persaud for the 2013 murder of Marlon Andrew Ramcharran, who was fatally chopped at Tain, in Berbice.
The appeal was heard by acting Chancellor Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Dawn Gregory.
The prosecution’s case was that Ramcharran was at a bar in the village with two friends, Nicholas Beharry and Rakesh Jaikarran. They left the bar at 2.30 am and Ramcharran went ahead of them. They then heard him shouting, “You chopping the wrong person” and they ran towards him. They allegedly saw when the men continued to chop Ramcharran, who collapsed to the ground.
The teen had left home to go to a wake house but he never returned and his relatives were shocked when they received the news that he had been badly chopped.
When they got to the scene they found him lying in a pool of blood and his body seemed lifeless.
Following their conviction at the High Court and the imposition of a 20-year sentence upon each of them, Morrison and Persaud approached the Appeal Court to overturn their conviction.
In their Notice of Appeal, Morrison and Persaud also contended that the judge who conducted their trial erred in law by not acquitting them through a no-case submission made by their attorneys.
They also argued that the judge allowed inadmissible evidence into the trial and that it was heard by the jury.
The appellants also stated that the judge erred in ruling that two of the witnesses for the prosecution “could not be contradicted by their previous inconsistent statement.”
They added that the laws on inconsistencies and contradictions were not adequately put to the jury.
Additionally, they argued that the law on visual identification was also not adequately put to the jury and neither was their defence.
They also contended that the 20-year sentence imposed upon each of them was “unduly severe.”
The men had been drinking together at the ‘Dusk Till Dawn Night-club’ at Tain New Housing before an argument ensued and led to the fatal chopping in which Ramcharran sustained wounds to his head, neck and other parts of his body.
Persaud was represented by Senior Counsel Mursaline Bacchus, while attorney Kim Kyte-Thomas represented Morrison.
According to Liz Rahaman, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Chambers of the Director of Public Prosecu-tions (DPP), the arguments presented by the appellants were dismissed and both the conviction and the sentences were affirmed. In addition, she stated that sentences will take effect from the date of conviction. The men were convicted in April, 2014.
