Kevin Sahoye has been sentenced to six years in prison for the 2016 killing of 13-year-old Daveanand Sanichar, but following deductions for time spent on remand, he would essentially be released from prison soon.
Sahoye is one of two persons who had been charged with the teen’s murder.
At his arraignment for the capital offence last month, however, he pleaded to the lesser charge of manslaughter accepting that he had unlawfully killed Sanichar on August 14th, 2016 at Plantation Walk, Triumph, East Coast Demerara.
At his sentencing hearing yesterday afternoon, defence attorney Everton Singh-Lammy submitted for the Court’s consideration that his client was relatively young at the time, had no antecedents and had accepted culpability for his actions.
Singh-Lammy said that the offender expressed his desire to plead a year ago, but had only gotten that opportunity last month.
The lawyer said that it was unfortunate that a life was lost and that his client was “extremely” contrite.
Meanwhile, in an impact statement, the dead teen’s mother, Sookdai Sanichar said that she misses her son, and that his birthday and Christmas are the worst times for her.
The woman’s statement which was read by Prosecutor Cicelia Corbin noted flashbacks in her quiet moments of when he got his first tooth, his first day at school and his smile.
“The death of my son has caused me so much pain as a mother,” the statement read.
In handing down her sentence, the judge noted from the facts that it was Sanichar —
and another person—James Lall—who were the aggressors on the fateful night of the killing.
The judge noted that after being attacked with a cutlass by Sanichar and Lall; Sahoye retaliated with a piece of wood, with which he dealt the two several blows, from which the teen would eventually die.
The defence had advanced that the offender responded naturally, “As any other person would in those circumstances.”
Sahoye had been charged with feloniously wounding Lall, to which he also admitted guilt.
Justice Morris-Ramlall commenced sentence for the killing at a base of 12 years and nine years for the wounding charge.
Therefrom she deducted three years from each which represented a 1 1/3 for the guilty pleas.
She then further credited Sahoye with a three-year deduction on the new totals of nine and six years respectively, for the fact that it was not he who was the aggressor.
To the remaining six and three years on charges respectively, the judge ordered that they be served concurrently, with the prison to deduct time on remand.
Sahoye was incarcerated following the incident in 2016.
Police had said that investigations revealed that on the night in question at a wedding celebration, Sahoye was dancing behind Sanichar’s aunt, which led to an argument.
As a result, Sanichar went home for a cutlass and returned and the argument continued. Sahoye then reportedly dealt the teen a blow to the head with a piece of wood, while another allegedly used the cutlass to inflict chops about his body.
The lad was subsequently rushed to the George-town Public Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
