A now 20-year-old man who, when he was 15, fatally stabbed Hemant Persaud in his heart during a robbery; is now awaiting sentencing after admitting his guilt.
“I lacked guidance—physical, spiritual, mental and emotional,” he yesterday told Justice Sandil Kissoon who enquired whether he had anything to say.
Begging for mercy, the man would then go on to plead with the Judge for an opportunity to correct what he described as his “wrongdoing,” and to continue his academic endeavours which he said he has since commenced in prison.
In his brief address to the court, he said that his aim is to one day be able to contribute meaningfully to society.
Notwithstanding that he is now an adult, because he committed the offence as a minor, the young man in accordance with the Juvenile Justice Act, continues to be entitled to protection from his identity being made known.
He was originally indicted for the capital offence of murder to which he pleaded not guilty; but admitted guilt to the lesser offence of manslaughter, accepting that he unlawfully killed Persaud on February 19th, 2017.
Justice Kissoon has deferred sentencing to September 26th to facilitate the presentation of a probation and other social impact reports.
Defence attorney Alaira Murphy-Goodman appeared on behalf of the young offender.
Persaud called “Bhim,” 51, the brother of former Police Commissioner Seelall Persaud, was fatally stabbed by the youth at the Stabroek Market.
Persaud and another man were at the market square making a purchase, when the youngster attacked and stabbed him; before snatching the gold chain he was wearing and making good his escape.
Prosecutor Muntaz Ali who read the facts which were not disputed by the defence, said the offender had related that he stabbed the man after he resisted his attempts to snatch the chain and because the man tried to fend him off.
The court heard that after Persaud succeeded in hitting the young man, the offender told investigator that he in-turn rushed into the man with the knife he was carrying.
With the help of eyewitnesses, police investigators later contacted the teen who in the company of his mother admitted to the crime.
Ali said that the injured Persaud was rushed to the hospital, but later succumbed to the stab wound he sustained to his chest.
The cause of death was given as perforation of the heart due to a stab wound, compounded by blunt trauma to the head.
