Two convicted killers, Sangit Chaitlal and Fazal Mohammed, walked out of the Port-of-Spain State Prison around 4 pm yesterday, after they were freed by the judge at a resentencing hearing hours earlier.

Chaitlal and Mohammed appeared before Justice Devan Rampersad in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court. They were among numerous death row prisoners who were sentenced to terms of natural life in response to the 1993 Privy Council decision in Pratt and Morgan. But it turned out that the sentences of natural life were unknown in law and the prisoners had to be resentenced. Rampersad heard submissions from attorneys for the two men, Gerald Ramdeen and Mark Seepersad, and reserved his decision to yesterday. In reviewing the sentences, Rampersad ordered that Chaitlal serve 32 years, effective 1983 when he was convicted.

Mohammed was ordered to serve 35 years from the date of his conviction in 1982. When calculated, it showed that both Mohammed and Chaitlal had effectively served their sentences. They were taken from the Hall of Justice to the State Prison, where they were processed for release. Ramdeen was present when his clients walked free. Mohammed told reporters he was very happy to have been released. He thanked his lawyers for assisting him, saying when no other lawyer wanted the case, Ramdeen and Seepersad came forward. Met outside the jail by his sister, Mohammed said the first thing he had to do was to reconcile with his relatives. Then, he would look forward to the weekend and take it from there.

Chaitlal, whose case had become a legal authority in the Commonwealth for no-case submissions, was equally elated at his release. He was also high in praise for his lawyers who fought a lengthy battle for his freedom. Chaitlal was found guilty on April 28, 1983, of the murder of Lorren Ramroop, between August 8 and 9, 1981 and sentenced to death. His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on July 17, 1985. His application for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, was dismissed. Mohammed was sentenced to death on February 19, 1982, for the murder of his common-law wife, Glenda Marshall. His appeal to the Court of Appeal was dismissed on July 31, 1985, and his appeal to the Privy Council was dismissed on February 5, 1990.

The death warrant was read to Mohammed in 1993 for execution. But a last-minute stay of execution saved him from the hangman. He spent 14 years on death row before he was removed. Chaitlal spent nine years on death row. In 1994, 52 convicted killers on death row had their sentences commuted to natural life. In 2004, Chaitlal and Mohammed commenced proceedings against the Attorney General, challenging the orders of imprisonment. The State eventually conceded that the order of imprisonment for natural lifewas unlawful, and that they had to be resentenced.

BACKGROUND
The prosecution’s case against Mohammed was that he murdered Marshall by slitting her throat with a razor. One witness said he sharpened the razor for Mohammed, and another witness said he found Marshall lying in the road bleeding from the throat. Chaitlal was seen by a witness carrying a heavy bag on his shoulder and going into the bush with it. He later emerged with an empty bag and discarded it. The bag was later found near to the area where Ramroop’s body was found.