– victim’s family forgives killers
By Danielle Campbell-Lowe
It is a story of the brutal murder of a young, promising 19-year-old girl and the unimaginable forgiveness extended to her condemned killers. Tariq Kassim was just 18-years-old when his sister, Roshana Kassim was raped and killed at Sheet Anchor, East Canje, Berbice, but he was old enough to experience the pain and anguish associated with her tragic death.
He was overwhelmed by the agonising ache of his parents’ broken hearts and felt the cold, emptiness which enveloped the home after she was killed.
But as a way of isolating and alienating their pain, the Kassims have tried in vain to forget and to place that fateful day along with its many memories behind them.
To this day, the Kassims never speak of Roshana and never mention her name among family members.
It all began on September 18, 1985 when news began to spread that the attractive 19-year-old was found dead under a suitcase, with her throat slit and her hip-length hair wrapped around her neck.
Roshana Kassim, who had just completed her General Certificate Examinations, was alone at home and had gone to fetch water from a pond behind the Kassims’ home.
On her way back, in the vicinity of the stairway, Roshana was accosted by two men, who forced her into the house and raped her in the area of the bathroom.
She was then taken to the bedroom, where she was again sexually violated before the men turned their attention to the cash and gold.
According to Tariq Kassim, his sister told her attackers that she would inform her father, Khalil Kassim, about what had transpired, and it was then that the intruders snatched up a knife from the kitchen and plunged it into her throat.
“Her hair was long all the way down; they strangled her with her own hair. After they killed her, they took a suitcase and placed it on top of her and then they left,” Tariq Kassim related.
Suspicion fell on two strange young men and their female companions, who were staying at a house not far from the Kassims’. The men, Terrence Sahadeo and Muntaz Ali, were from Georgetown and had only moved to the area to be with their girlfriends; two weeks and three days prior to the murder.
Prosecution’s case
The case for the prosecution was that Sahadeo and Ali had gone to Kassim’s house on a devious plan hatched by Ali’s girlfriend, Shireen Khan, who had sent them to rob her.
A witness for the prosecution testified at the trial that on the morning of the incident, she had overheard Khan, in the presence of Sahadeo and Ali, inquiring after the Kassims.
After learning that Roshana Kassim was home alone, Khan then ordered her companions to “go see what they could get”. The eyewitness testified that through a window, two houses away, she saw Roshana Kassim in the house when the two men entered.
She claimed that Ali and Sahadeo returned about 15 minutes later. According to the witness, Sahadeo had blood on his hands, which he washed away before handing over the stolen jewellery to Shireen Khan.
The witness admitted that she had been arrested and detained for two days without the benefit of legal counsel before giving a statement to police. The only other evidence against Sahadeo was an alleged disputed confession along with other statements given by the investigating ranks.
However, police claimed that Sahadeo was arrested after he was found outside a house next to Kassim’s with scratches on the upper part of his body.
In a statement from the dock, Sahadeo denied knowledge of the murder, and stated that he had been beaten in order to force his signature on a confession on the third day of his arrest. It is Sahadeo’s claim that he was also deprived of food for the first two days following his arrest.
On November 8, 1989, Sahadeo and Ali were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging; four years and two months after their arrests.
According to court records, two prior trials, one in June 1988 and the other in February 1989, had been aborted. A retrial was recommended after a subsequent appeal heard in 1992, and on May 6, 1994, Sahadeo and his co-accused were again convicted and sentenced to death.
Professed innocence
Sahadeo’s sister, Margaret Paul said her brother has professed his innocence and that he and his friends were arrested since they were strangers in the village.
According to Paul, Sahadeo lived at William Street, Campbellville, and worked as a barman at the Pakaraima Disco on Lombard Street.
During 1985, three girls from Berbice, including Shireen Khan and Roshanna Gobin visited the bar and soon caught the eyes of Sahadeo and his friend, Ali.
Sahadeo took Gobin home and the two began living together until Gobin decided that she wanted to move back to Berbice, where she had a vacant property.
Gobin convinced Sahadeo that she could secure employment for him and inquired whether he would move to Berbice with her, and he agreed.
On Sunday, September 15, 1985, Sahadeo left his job as a barman and journeyed to Berbice with his newfound love. Two weeks before, Sahadeo’s friend, Ali and Khan had already journeyed to Berbice and were staying at the house.
Three days after his arrival, Sahadeo heard everyone in the neighbourhood mumbling in low tones and heading towards the public road. He decided to follow the crowd to see where they were headed and soon found out that a young girl had been murdered.
“He had never seen Kassim or touched her,” his sister said.
Sahadeo later returned to the house when police arrived and inquired whether he had heard, or seen anything out of the ordinary.
However, when Sahadeo informed the police that he was not from the area, he was immediately considered a suspect. He was later arrested and charged along with Ali and Khan. Gobin was never charged, but was found murdered a few years later.
Shireen Khan escaped the hangman’s noose when she died at the New Amsterdam Female Prison in December 2009. She had been in the prison’s infirmary, owing to medical complications, including heart disease and diabetes.
Up to the time of her death, Khan was the longest-serving female prisoner and had written to President Jagdeo in 2005 seeking a release on compassionate grounds.
After Shireen Khan’s death, the Kassims were still livid at the fact that their loved one had been snatched in such a vicious manner. Kassim’s relatives said the memories were fresh the day Khan died as when Roshana was killed.
They insisted that Shireen Khan was caught at the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling with the jewellery and the two men were found at her home with the other loot.
“The death of Shireen Khan is what she deserved. We are glad that she is coming out in a coffin and that she is not coming out of jail alive. They took my sister’s life, all for a few pieces of material things. It was not good enough that they robbed and raped her, but they killed her in the most brutal way and that hurt us every day,” Tariq Kassim had said shortly after learning of Khan’s death.
Now 50, and anxious for his release, Sahadeo said, “With God as my witness, I don’t hate them. It is a loved one who died for them. I don’t hold no grudges against anyone who was responsible for my incarceration.”
He however expressed frustration at the judicial system for not pleading his case as an “innocent man on death row”. His friend, Muntaz Ali recently had his sentence commuted to life in prison after a motion was brought before Chief Justice Ian Chang.
Sahadeo was not included in the motion, claiming the cost of retaining an attorney was too prohibitive. But now, 27 years after the sadistic slaying, the Kassims have found a soft spot in their hearts for Roshana’s killers.
Tariq Kassim, who has a younger brother and an older sister in Canada, said that the men have paid the penalty and have served their time.
“They have been there a long time, in prison. It’s about 27 years now and although we don’t try to remember it, I don’t have anything against them,” he remarked.
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