Condemned inmate given a second chance at life

By Danielle Campbell

On September 1, 1993, Arnold Ramsammy was startled by the strange sound coming from outside his Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder home. He got out of bed to investigate and was accosted by four armed, masked invaders. The ensuing confrontation led to Ramsammy being shot in the left arm. The man’s three daughters: Maureen, Indira, and Gaitree claimed that they were asleep in a bedroom when they heard their father shouting, “Bandit! Bandit!”
There was contradiction in the testimony concerning which daughter woke up first.
However, Maureen Ramsammy said that she ran out of the bedroom and saw her father clutching his bleeding arm.
In the days that followed, police detained five young men, including Vivakanand Singh, Tola Persaud, Hasrat Hussain and his brother, Hafeez. The fifth man later escaped while police were escorting him to a Berbice Court where he had another matter pending.
Ramsammy’s daughter testified that when she emerged from the bedroom, she saw a man holding a gun to her father’s head. According to her, she did not hear any gunshots during the attack. However, she was there half an hour later during the ensuing shootout with police and the bandits.
Ramsammy was admitted to hospital and died about four days after the incident.
About seven days after the shooting, one of the daughters told police that her father had identified Singh as his attacker.
Singh, who lived at Letter Kenny, had just purchased a tractor with assistance from the bank and was cultivating rice and other crops at Mibicuri, Black Bush Polder. The following day, after police left a message with Singh’s mother that he was wanted for questioning, he turned himself in.
There was no identification parade or confession statement. However, later in September 1993, Singh and his co-accused were charged with murder, and in October 1994, were committed to stand trial at the High Court.
Two years later, on March 26, 1996, Hafeez Hussain and Singh were condemned to death.
The two other accused, Hasrat Hussain and Persaud, were found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to two and three years’ imprisonment respectively.
What was strange about the convictions was the eyewitnesses’ claim that the perpetrators were three in number, two of African descent and one of East Indian descent.
The accused were all East Indian men.
Conviction appealed
That same year, the four accused appealed their convictions in the Court of Appeal.
The grounds of appeal were that the trial judge omitted to direct the jury adequately on the law relating to identification, and that he did not adequately deal with the effects of the evidentiary statements said to be inconsistent.
The four men also claimed that the trial in a Corentyne District Court, following which they were automatically sentenced to death, was unfair.
They argued that the police daily-record book which contained entries about the “real” authors of the crime was lost during the trial.
According to the appeal records, the testimonies of several witnesses were not taken into account, a police officer gave contradictory testimony, and other testimonies which proved to contain “significant discrepancies” were used against the accused.
The quartet further argued that the trial judge did not direct the jury how to approach such issues, in particular, the reliability of testimonies.
Also of significance was the fact that the officer-in-charge of the investigation was related to the deceased, presenting a conflict of interest.
According to the application of appeal, the investigator’s findings were partial and biased owing to his relationship with the dead man.
The appeal, concerning the Hussains and Singh, was dismissed. Persaud subsequently appealed his three-year sentence and was given an additional seven years in jail.
After Singh’s appeal was dismissed, he took his case to the United Nations which reviewed the case and recommended that the sentence be commuted to life imprisonment. The UN also found that a crucial document was missing resulting in an unfair trial.
Last year, acting Chief Justice Ian Chang delivered a landmark decision when he commuted the death sentences of four men, including Singh.
According to Singh’s cousin, Harrinarine Singh, the prisoner, who is now serving a life sentence, was visited by the Parole Board last month.
However, the parole board did not recommend Singh’s release due to the fact that he is already serving a life sentence.
Through an application filed by Singh’s lawyer, Jainarayan Singh, relatives have approached the High Court seeking his release on the grounds that he has already served 20 years in prison.
In addition, a report was made about “the real perpetrators” who committed the crime and this was recorded in the occurrence book, which was never produced in court.
Singh’s attorney is claiming that the failure by the police to produce the occurrence book as evidence at the trial amounted to a miscarriage of justice and deprived the accused of a fair trial.