Derek Achong
A woman, her daughter and her daughter’s friend have pleaded guilty to murdering a man from St Augustine in 2006.
Gewan Pardassie, Kareen Ramlal and her mother Ramdaye pleaded guilty to felony murder as they appeared virtually before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas yesterday.
Under the felony murder, the mandatory death penalty for murder is waived in circumstances where the victim died during the commission of a lesser criminal offence.
Before accepting their guilty pleas, St Clair-Douglas questioned both women over their decision as he noted that reports from officials at the Women’s Prison indicated that they had maintained their innocence since they were charged.
Both women indicated that they understood that by pleading guilty they accepted responsibly for the crime and had freely taken the decision.
St Clair-Douglas did not immediately sentence the trio as he adjourned the case to February 4, when prosecutors are expected to read the evidence against the group and defence attorneys are expected to present their mitigation pleas.
The trio is accused of murdering Anil Jadoo on May 3, 2006. Two days later, Jadoo’s body was discovered at his Deokiesingh Street, St Augustine home.
A post mortem revealed that Jadoo died of blunt force trauma to the head.
The trio is also charged with conspiracy to murder but State prosecutors indicated that they needed instructions on whether to discontinue the charge and only prosecute them for the substantive murder charge.
The trio is being represented by Selwyn Mohammed, Ulric Skerritt, Colin Selvon, and Ravi Rajah. Indira Chinebas and Ambay Ramkelawan are prosecuting.