A weeping 22-year-old Jonathan Budhan was on Monday sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh to serve 25 years imprisonment for the fatal beating of 40-year-old Ramesh Manbodh.
Manbodh was beaten to death with a cricket bat in 2016.
According to reports, at that time, Budhan was 19-years old and was involved in a relationship with Manbodh’s 16-year-old niece.
The court heard that on October 25, 2016, there was a scuffle between the two when Manbodh objected to the relationship due to the age gap.
Budhan armed himself with a cricket bat and dealt Manbodh several lashes to the head. Manbodh died days later at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Budhan, formerly of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, was on trial before Justice Singh at the Demerara High Court for murder but the jury, almost a month ago, found Budhan guilty for the lesser offence of manslaughter.
Budhan was represented by Attorney Nigel Hughes while Tuanna Hardy and Abigail Gibbs lead the State’s case.
On Monday, after a probation report was admitted to the court, Budhan began crying and apologised for his actions.
The Judge explained that based on the evidence during the trial, it is clear that Budhan intended to murder Manbodh.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story initially stated that Justice Singh told Budhan had he had initially wanted to sentence him to life imprisonment for murder, but the jury had only found him guilty of manslaughter, however, Justice Singh reached out to the News Room clarifying that his statement was misinterpreted by the reporter. According to Justice Singh, he said he wanted to sentence the defendant to life imprisonment for the offence of manslaughter as provided for in the laws but took the defence lawyer’s submission into consideration hence the 25 years sentence. The News Room apologises to Justice Singh for any harm caused.
