Sherwin Clarke, also known as ‘Hot Skull,’ has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole only after he serves a minimum of 20 years for the 2016 killing of Better Hope pensioner David Ramkissoon during a home invasion.
The sentence was handed down yesterday afternoon by Justice Sandil Kissoon, who lamented the “cruel and callous” manner in which the senior citizen met his gruesome demise at the hands of daring and brazen persons whom he noted had scant regard for life.
Just under a month ago, Clarke was arraigned and placed on trial for the septuagenarian’s murder after pleading not guilty to the capital indictment.
Following the commencement of his trial, however, the father of two admitted that he did have a hand in Ramkissoon’s killing, thereafter pleading guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.
The charge was re-read to him and he admitted that on August 21st, 2016, at Better Hope, East Coast Demerara, in the company of others, he unlawfully killed Ramkissoon, 76, during the course of a robbery.
When given a chance to speak at his sentencing-hearing yesterday, Clarke between sobs begged the family of the deceased for their forgiveness, and the Judge for lenience.
He said that he was sincerely sorry for the hurt and pain he had caused, while beseeching the Court for an opportunity to return to society where he said he plans to prove himself and make a positive impact.
Those sentiments were echoed by his attorney Damian DaSilva, who presented his client as a model candidate for reintegration.
In his request for a lenient sentence, the lawyer advanced that while the offender had not accepted responsibility for his action at the earliest-given opportunity, he did eventually do so with the best of intentions.
After referencing a plethora of case law authorities and considering the aggravating factors of the case, Justice Kissoon said the Court found a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 20 years, to be appropriate.
From that, the Judge ordered that the prison is to make full discount for the almost six years Clarke had spent on remand awaiting trial, which means that Clarke is likely to spend just about 14 years behind bars if paroled.
Apart from that mandatory deduction, the Judge said he found no other factors to mitigate the sentence even as he noted that the nature and circumstances under which the crime was committed and its seriousness and prevalence, all far outweighed any mitigating factor.
Clarke had admitted that he did indeed tell police that he and other persons had gone to the septuagenarian’s home, where they bound and gagged him, beat him and slit his throat, before robbing his house while his adult son and family were out.
The court had further heard from the offender that he had been given proceeds from the crime.
In their impact statements, Anand Ramkissoon and his wife Nalini described his father as loving, kind and helpful.
Nalini said that her father-in-law played an instrumental role in assisting her with caring for one of her children who has a disability.
She said that as the person who discovered his body, she remains traumatized, and that both she and her eldest son, who was just seven years old when he lost his grandfather, continue to live in constant fear.
The State was represented by Prose-cutors Muntaz Ali and Taneisha Saygon.
Back in April, Clarke’s accomplice Godfrey Gill, called ‘Chucky,’ was sentenced to 11 years, four months in jail after admitting his role in the crime.
At his arraignment, Gill pleaded not guilty to the capital offence, but admitted guilt to the lesser offence.
The facts presented by the State were that Gill and two others broke into the elderly man’s home while his family was out.
The court had heard that they encountered Ramkissoon, called ‘Dillip’ and ‘Short-man,’ whose throat they slit with a knife.
They then ransacked the house before carting off a quantity of cash, jewellery and other items.
Prosecutors had told the court that upon his return home, the man’s son found him in a kneeling position on the floor in a pool of blood.
The court had heard that during investigations, Gill would later admit to the police that he and two other persons had robbed and killed the man.
Prosecutors had said that Gill also related that they divided the money they had stolen, from which he got $25,000.
An autopsy revealed that Ramkissoon died from shock and haemorrhage, due to incised wounds to the head and neck.
Nalini, had previously related to this newspaper that she left him relaxing in their hammock, while the house was tightly secured.
The family had left to visit a creek along the Linden-Soesdyke Highway. According to her, hours later, she called the landline but the calls went unanswered.
When they returned home later that day, the house was in complete darkness, which they found to be quite unusual. Nalini had said her husband, went to check on his father and found the house ransacked and his father dead.
There was a hole in the back fence, which the family suspected the bandits used to gain entry to the property.
