After a jury found him guilty of killing a man for which he was paid G$60,000, Phillip “Shoe Lace” Paul was on Monday sentenced to life imprisonment at the Georgetown High Court.
It was during his trial that it was revealed that he was paid by an accomplice called “Tall Man” for the December 2012 murder of Annandale, East Coast Demerara (ECD) businessman Kamal Ramsahoye who met his demise when the killers stumbled upon him as they were about to rob his home.
Only “Shoe Lace” was on trial for the man’s murder and he had nothing to say before Justice Sandil Kissoon handed down the life sentence. The Judge ordered that he serve 30 years in jail before becoming eligible for parole after considering that the victim was stabbed 14 times about his body. The Judge had started at a base sentence of 36 years before parole, but took off six years for the time the accused spent on remand.
Ramsahoye’s relatives said that they fully agreed with the court’s decision as they continued to deal with their loss. The prosecution’s case, which was led by Attorneys Lisa Cave and Orinthia Schmidt, was that, under caution, Paul told Police that he saw his friend “Tall Man” on the “line top” (Railway
Embankment) and invited him to go to a house in Annandale.
After they scaled a fence, they entered Ramsahoye’s home, but encountered the homeowner who ran, but they caught up with him, and “Shoe Lace” reportedly held the businessman while “Tall Man” stabbed him to death. They then searched the man’s home and made off with a large sum of cash, after which “Tall Man” gave “Shoe Lace” G$60,000 and the two parted company.
Paul was represented by Attorney Brandon De Santos who had appealed for mercy, citing that his client was only 19 at the commissioning of the crime.
However, the State proffered that the court should consider the seriousness and prevalence of robberies in society.
