Ten months after rallying behind the People's Partnership, Mooniah Ramiah is expressing disappointment at the Government's attempts to resume hangings.Although the Constitution (Amendment) Capital Offences Bill 2011 failed to secure the requisite support from the Opposition PNM on March 1 to become law, Ramiah-who lost one of her sons, Joey Ramiah to the hangman's noose-said she was in shock and hurt as she never thought the party she endorsed for the May 2010 general election would have brought forward the bill.
Joey, along with Piparo's notorious drug baron Dole Chadee and seven others, was hanged in June of 1999. He had also been sentenced to death for the murders of Anthony "Tooks" Greenidge and Stephen "Bulls" Sandy, whose mutilated bodies were dug up from a shallow grave in Caroni in 1992.Ramiah said after the UNC had resumed hangings, the PNM, upon returning to power, promised that this would be a thing of the past.Then Kamla Persad-Bissessar and the People's Partnership coalition Government came on the scene stating that the country needed a change in governance.
While she did not say if she voted for Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, Ramiah disclosed that she embraced the party."It really shocked me. I thought the hangman was dead and over with. I wasn't expecting this to surface again, especially by this Government."
We need God in our lives
Again describing Joey as her favourite son, Ramiah said when debate on the bill began in Parliament it was like reopening an old wound."It brought back all the memories of that unfortunate day eleven years ago. It ripped my heart to pieces because I felt that once it is implemented, innocent people would become victims to the hangman's noose."Ramiah said even though Joey was gone, she insisted that he was not given a fair trial, more so, police investigations were not "up to scratch."Eleven years after Joey's hanging, Ramiah said people in her community now had regrets over his execution.
"They say if he was around things would have been different today."Sitting on a wooden bench holding a biscuit tin containing coins, Ramiah, 75, of Knaggs Street, Frederick Settlement, Caroni, said as a Christian she did not believe in hanging, arguing that executing people would not deter the criminal elements."Too much blood has been spilled in the land. What we need is God in our lives. This is the path we all have to walk if we want to heal this country."
Ramiah's agony is compounded by the fact that three of her other sons, Bobby, Damien and Seenath have been languishing on death row for almost a decade for the murder of Thackoor Boodram, whose decomposing head was found in a whisky box at Caroni.She is the only known mother in T&T with three sons serving life on death row.Ramiah admitted she had to turn to God for solace after her life started crumbling.
'Everybody makes mistakes'
"God gave me the courage and strength to live. Had it not been for him I don't know how I would have made it."Bobby, Damien and Seenath were given reprieves from the hangman's noose, having spent more than five years on death row.While Seenath is imprisoned at Carrera, Bobby and Damien who are incarcerated at the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca, have been excelling academically.Both were able to obtain CXC passes in Maths, English and Principles of Accounts behind bars.They also pursued computer literacy courses.On the day Joey was hanged, Ramiah said she had just taken a shower and switched on the television only to hear the tragic news.
"The scream I let out, all my neighbours heard."Up to this day, Ramiah maintains the innocence of her three sons on death row.She said all those who testified against her sons "will get away from man but not from God."She lives with the hope that one day they will walk free."In life everybody makes mistakes. The only man who is perfect is God," she said.