Ronald Tewarie

Convicted killer Ronald Tewarie will no longer have the fear of going to the gallows. Yesterday, Russell Martineau, SC, lead counsel for the State, indicated that Minister of National Security Martin Joseph proposed to advise President George Maxwell Richards to commute Tewarie’s death sentence to life imprisonment. As a result, Tewarie’s constitutional motion challenging any plans to execute him has been put to January 28, 2010, for a status report on the commutation.

The matter came up before Justice Peter Rajkumar in the Port-of-Spain High Court. Appearing for Tewarie are Douglas Mendes, SC, Reginald Armour and Ravi Heffes-Doon. Tewarie’s case was a touch-and-go one as the Advisory Committee on the Power of Pardon (Mercy Committee) was scheduling meetings to decide Tewarie’s fate, just days short of his five years on death row since his conviction. Tewarie, 39, formerly of Blue Basin Road, Diego Martin, was sentenced to death by Justice Rajendra Narine in the Port-of-Spain Assizes on August 4, 2004, for the murder of his sister-in-law, Polly Ramnarine, at Blue Basin River, on March 8, 2001. It was alleged that Tewarie drowned Ramnarine in the presence of her daughter, Meena.

Tewarie’s legal team had petitioned the High Court for an interim order seeking to have the Mercy Committee’s meeting stalled until Tewarie’s petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was determined. They argued that under the Constitution, due process was mandatory, and as such, Tewarie was entitled to retain the human rights report which needed to be reviewed by the Mercy Committee. Noting that the Mercy Committee’s meeting would be unlawful if it proceeded, lawyers said the Privy Council established beyond a doubt that the execution of a prisoner “while a matter is pending is unlawful.”

Under Section 89 of the Constitution, the Mercy Committee, headed by the Minister of National Security, meets before the minister advises the President, on whether or not, a convict on death row should be pardoned, or have his death sentence commuted. The Mercy Committee also comprises the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and four other people appointed by the President, after consultation with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition.

THE CASE

According to the prosecution’s case, Polly Ramnarine’s head was held under the water by Tewarie at the Blue Basin River. Forensic pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes said he found pieces of gravel in her airway, indicating that she was strenuously inhaling while her face was forcibly held against the gravel. Meena testified to seeing Tewarie and her mother fighting and she saw him on top of her mother, who was trying to get away.

She said her mother was lying on her back and Tewarie had a cutlass in his hand. Both Inspector Anthony Lezama and Sgt Godson Andrews said Tewarie told them he pushed Ramnarine’s head in the water and he saw bubbles and when it stopped bubbling, he knew she was dead.
Lezama said Tewarie told him he took a cutlass and went to the river, after seeing Ramnarine that morning, “to buss she throat.”