Sunil Ally who had pleaded guilty to the 2019 murder of cash crop and poultry farmer, Deoprakash Lalbachan, also known as ‘Deo’ and ‘Williams,’ of Lot 22 Grant 1651, Crabwood Creek, was yesterday sentenced to life in prison.
Ally, 37, had entered his guilty plea at the High Court in Berbice before Justice Sandil Kissoon in late October. The state was represented by Attorney at Law, Muntaz Ali while the accused was represented by Attorney at Law, Tuanna Hardy.
In February, 2019, Lalbachan, 59, was fatally stabbed during a suspected robbery at his Crabwood Creek residence. His widow, Nalinie Lalbachan had said that she was in the upper flat of her house, while her husband, a father of three, was in the lower flat when the fatal attack occurred, sometime around 10.30 pm.
She stated that Deoprakash was watching television and she assumed that he had fallen asleep. However, minutes to 11 p.m., she heard him shout, “Nalinie! Come here! Them want to kill me! Them a bore me!” She said she thought her husband was having a nightmare, but after rushing downstairs, she saw that he was bleeding from his abdomen. “When me went to am, he say, ‘Them come! Them come for kill me!’ And that’s all.”
The woman recounted that she placed her husband to lie on the floor and alerted other residents, who assisted her in rushing him to the Skeldon Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
According to Nalinie, her husband, to whom she was married for 37 years, did not have any issues with anyone, and was a quiet, easygoing, kindhearted and helpful man.
“I didn’t see anything missing so far but my husband usually have his money and stuff in the drawer downstairs but there is nothing…I don’t know if they went by the drawer and that where he grab them or wah,” she stated.
She also noted that her husband was not able to give any details of the attack before his passing, as she found him just as he collapsed in the kitchen next to the cupboard.
A police source in 2019 had told Stabroek News that they were investigating the matter as a possible robbery since several bags filled with items from a fridge were found at the rear of Lalbachan’s house.
The source had said that according to their investigation, it is possible that it could have been a “kitchen thief” who was confronted and panicked. He theorized that the thief had broken into the kitchen through a window and was then confronted by Lalbachan, who was still in the kitchen at that time.
According to the source, the murder weapon, a knife, was discovered at the scene of the crime.
In a victim impact statement, Nalinie stated that she and her husband came from poor families but worked hard to ensure a good life for their children by making a proper education a priority, however, now that that dream has been realized her husband is not here to enjoy the fruits of his labour.
She described the trauma of having to live in the home where her husband was killed, and said “My husband was my only company and now he is gone.”
According to her in 2019, her husband would have celebrated his 60th birthday with family and friends living abroad already making plans to visit Guyana in celebration along with her daughter who was planning to bring her children (their grandchildren) for the first time to Guyana, “but then because of this monster and his evil heart instead of celebrating his birthday we had to do his funeral.”
“Me and my family need justice for what this monster has done to us”, the woman pleaded to the court in her statement read by her son, Mahendra Lalbachan, a civil engineer.
In sentencing him yesterday Justice Kissoon stated that the farmer was brutally and callously murdered in his home by the accused acting together with others in the course of a robbery adding that a weapon – a knife – was used to inflict multiple stab wounds to the victim with the intention to kill him.
The accused was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole after spending twenty-three years. The court ordered that he benefit from vocational programmes to aid him with a skillset and rehabilitation for his integration into society after completing his sentence.
