Meignauth Premraj also known as ‘Smokey’, yesterday opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter for the murder of his neighbour, Mark Griffith, when he appeared before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the High Court in Berbice.
Griffith called `Rancher’, 40, died on the 17th January 2021.
Premraj who is represented by Attorney at Law, Surihya Sabsook will return to court on November 9th, for sentencing. The state was represented by Attorney at Law, Muntaz Ali.
A probation report, prison conduct report, psychiatric evaluation, impact statements, and aggravating and mitigating factors were all ordered.
According to the facts agreed on, the accused and Griffith were known to each other as they would normally drink alcohol together.
However, on the 17th January 2021 at 16:30hrs, the accused was seen standing on a bridge with a little chopper and was firing chops at Griffith.
The accused was told to desist by everyone present and he ignored their calls and continued. Griffith was seen in the trench with blood about his body. At the time, Griffith was not seen with any weapons.
During the incident, the accused was also seen using explicit language to Griffith.
On the 17th January, 2021, the police went to the home of the accused, Premraj where he was contacted and told of the allegation and cautioned. He responded, “Officer `Rancher’ disrespectful, he disrespected me”. He was arrested and taken to the Central Police Station after which he was charged.
On the 18th January, 2021 the police escorted the accused to the scene of the incident where the suspected weapon was retrieved. The accused identified the said knife as the weapon he used to stab the deceased.
In the accused’s statement to the police, he said that he and Griffith began arguing and he decided to go to his aunt. Whilst locking up his gate, Griffith approached him and started lashing him with a cutlass and punched him. The accused took a knife which he had and then stabbed Griffith in his chest and ran away to his aunt’s home.
Griffith was rushed to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His cause of death was given as shock and haemorrhage and stab wound to the chest.
