Five men were on Monday sentenced to 66 years imprisonment for the 2016 brutal murder of Berbice carpenter, Faiyaz Narinedatt.
Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram and Niran Yacoob were sentenced by Justice Navindra Singh at the Berbice High Court.
In November 2022, a 12-member jury found the men guilty of murdering Narinedatt between October 31 and November 1, 2016.
The State was represented by special prosecutor, Latchmie Rahamat and State prosecutor Nafeeza Baig.
During the sentencing hearing on Monday, Narinedatt’s mother and father addressed their son’s killers in court.
“They kill meh son… It’s not easy fuh meh… Ayo destroyed meh life,” the grieving mother said to the five convicted killers as she told the court that Narinedatt was her only child.
The distraught woman told the court that since her son’s death, she is unable to trust people around her given the fact that the five convicts were friends of the family.
With tears rolling down his cheeks, the victim’s father begged the killers for a reason for killing his son.
The convicts each addressed the court while giving their “humble sympathy” to the victim’s family. The men asked the Judge for leniency and mercy.
Justice Singh, while delivering his sentencing remarks said, “This was a brutal murder,” pointing out that the men showed no sign of remorse and continue to deny their roles in the crime.
“I don’t know how one human can be so brutal to another human being,” the Judge said as he sentenced the men to serve 66 years imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of 25 years.
During the period in question, Narinedatt was beaten and left for dead on the road at Number 70 Village, Berbice, a short distance away from the home of businessman Marcus Bisram, who has since been acquitted of the murder.
Police claimed that the men placed Narinedatt’s lifeless body into the trunk of a car and dumped it on the public road before driving over him to make it appear to be an accident.
Police had initially implicated the Guyanese-American businessman Bisram; he left for the United States of America just after the murder but was extradited to Guyana and charged with Narinedatt’s murder.
However, on June 1, 2020, he was freed of the charge by a Magistrate due to the lack of evidence.
The Director of Public Prosecution, Shalimar Ali-Hack, ordered the magistrate to commit Bisram to the High Court to stand trial for the indictment.
He later moved to the Georgetown High Court, where Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall ruled that his incarceration was unlawful and ordered that he be released.
On May 31, 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the orders granted by a High Court Judge. Bisram later moved to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) to appeal this decision.
The Trinidad-based Court ordered that the decision made by the Magistrate to dismiss the murder charge against Bisram be restored.
It was also ordered that Bisram may not be committed for trial only on the evidence led before the Magistrate. However, Justice Saunders said that nothing prevents the DPP from re-arresting and charging Bisram if fresh evidence is found.
