Fourteen years after a Freeport accountant was murdered and his common-law wife and baby kidnapped for ransom during a robbery at their home, two men have been sentenced.
Layne Williams and Anton Marvin Gay pleaded guilty to felony murder, two counts of kidnapping for ransom and robbery with aggravation, following plea-deal discussions with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution in September.
High Court Judge Gail Gonzales handed down the sentences.
Williams will serve another seven years and nine months in jail, while Gay will remain in prison for another five years and nine months for Ali’s murder.
According to the facts, the accused were hired by Ali to do work on his premises and complete a painting job on August 15, 2010.
The men began rubbing down a wall, but then Williams cut Ali’s throat with a cutlass. They gagged Ali’s common law wife Lila Seetaram, who was upstairs the house, and tied a cloth around her head.
Williams then demanded money from her.
The couple’s 15-month-old daughter began to cry and Seetaram asked them permission to hold her while she searched the safe for money.
The other accused placed several items of jewellery in his bag.
They also stole $7,000 and several electronic items.
They told Seetaram she had to go with them and they would demand a ransom for her. She was forced to drive her car out of the premises with her baby in a car seat in the front passenger seat and the accused in the back seat of the vehicle.
When they arrived at a back street in Chase Village, Williams took over the driving and she went to the back seat of the car.
They stopped at a gas station along the way and while there, Seetaram was told to call her mother-in-law and ask for a ransom of $100,000 in exchange for her and the baby.
Williams then took the phone from her and her father-in-law, who was then on the phone, told him, “Yuh go have to kill them yes, because you eh getting no money.”
Williams drove the car onto a road next to Rienzi Complex and Gay offloaded the stolen items in a bushy area and covered it with Seetaram’s pink gararah.
Williams then came out of the car and said, “Ah did like Neeshad yuh know and ah woulda do anything for him but he didn’t lend meh de money and dat is why it end up like dis.”
They then drove to an area near “the dump” on the highway for Seetaram to call back her mother-in-law, who informed her that Ali was dead.
Seetaram told the police Williams said, “Imagine Neeshad did tell me go to Kamla! She eh giving me dat and I try one day yuh know and de list was long, long, long and de surgery is only ah month away. Ah have to get dat money now now. I did ask Neeshad for his money borrow, yuh know! If ah did get it from him, this wouldna never happen to him.”
Seetaram begged Williams not to kill them and told him that her mother-in-law would pay the money. He told her to call back her mother-in-law and tell her to meet them at Gulf City’s KFC in an hour.
Williams instructed Seetaram and Gay to travel to Gulf City while he stayed with the baby. He threatened to kill her if he saw any police or anything suspicious. They took a taxi to Gulf City and Gay called her mother-in-law to inquire about the ransom money. Sometime after, Williams approached in Seetaram’s car, and they went to Pleasantville in an area called “the Line.”
The accused men spoke to several people there before Seetaram and her daughter were taken to a house.
Some time later, they left in a taxi, as police were in the area.
When the taxi reached a junction, they picked up a woman who was believed to be Williams’ wife. The taxi dropped them off in San Fernando around 5 pm and they walked to Churchs Chicken where they had a meal.
Afterwards, they took another taxi to Orange Field Road, Chase Village, to an old house with a woman and three children inside.
The 7 pm news confirmed that Ali was dead and they showed a photo of Seetaram and her husband. Williams told Seeteram he was going to get a taxi and to call back her mother-in-law and whatever he got, he would let her go.
Seetaram heard loud voices coming from outside and Williams peeped through a window and then ran outside.
The duo was arrested by the police and Seetaram and her daughter escaped from the house to a nearby church where a prayer meeting was taking place.
They were taken to the Chaguanas Health Centre by WPC Fonrose.
In her sentencing of Williams, Justice Gonzales started at 32 years for felony murder—upwards three years because he slit Ali’s throat—downward of two years because of his apology and his achievements and behaviour in prison. The judge then deducted the 14 years and two months he had been in prison.
The judge gave Gay the same starting point sentence of 32 years with a downward of two years and the time spent was also deducted.
They will serve the sentences for the kidnapping and robbery offences concurrently.
The duo was represented by attorneys Michelle Ali, Michelle Gonzales and Shanutelle Hamilton of the Public Defenders’ Department, while attorneys Rebecca Trim-Wright and Tricia Samuel were from the DPP’s Office.
