Mahaica farmer killed by bandits

Aug 21, 2010 News

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– perpetrators nabbed by police

What should have been a wedding celebration took a devastating turn for a Mahaica, East Coast Demerara family yesterday when one of its members was shot dead by bandits.
Dead is 35-year-old rice farmer Lakeram Bishun Dial, called Mohan. Dial was in a truck at Hope, East Coast Demerara, when he decided to stop and talk with his younger brother Totaram who was heading home after a trip to the bank.
Totaram is due to get married this weekend and had gone to Georgetown to make a cash withdrawl. He was travelling back home to De Hoop, Mahaica, in a blue Hilux Surf four-runner. Totaram and his brother were talking when two men on a motorcycle arrived.
An eyewitness told Kaieteur News that Totaram jumped into a trench and then two shots were fired. It was discovered that the elder Mohan was shot and he was rushed to a private hospital where he was pronounced dead.
After attacking the Dials, the bandits fled with a bag of cash that Totaram had in the vehicle and headed in the direction of Georgetown.
Quick police action resulted in the motor cycle, identified as being used in the robbery, being recovered at Victoria, also on the East Coast. Further investigations led to the driver of the motor cycle being apprehended in an abandoned house in Victoria.
Two other suspects have also been arrested and the men are assisting with the investigations.
According to Police, the motor cycle has been identified as belonging to a local private company with whom the driver is employed.
The quick police response to this incident and the resulting interception of the motor cycle used in the robbery and arrest of the driver follows on the heels of the interception by the police of a motor car and arrest of a suspect following an armed robbery on the Prairie Hotel at Coverden, EBD, and the interception of a motor vehicle and arrest of three suspects and recovery of an unlicensed .38 revolver with four rounds following an armed robbery on the SAJ Rice Mill Inc. at Burma, Mahaicony, both of which occurred Thursday.
Joint tandem patrols between the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Defence Force commenced last evening along the East Coast Demerara and East Bank Demerara.
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Wife killer jailed for eight years

The accused in the Whim murder trial, 35-year-old Eric Sookchine called “Shakall”, who later pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter was on Thursday sentenced to eight years in jail by Justice Brassington Reynolds.
This was after a probation report was read by Probation officer Medford Ward and a plea of mitigation presented by his lawyer Senior Counsel Marcel Crawford.
Sookchine was accused of killing his pregnant 24-year-old wife Jasodra Sookchine called ‘Usha’ on June 3, 2005 at their home in Whim Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

The convict who was being tried for the capital offence had changed his plea halfway during his second trial and had pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter before Justice Reynolds and a mixed jury at the Berbice High Court.
This was after State Prosecutor Dionne Mc Cammon made an application under Section 95 of the Criminal Law Offences Act to tender a statement of the couple’s 13-year-old daughter.
In her statement the child had related that her parents were involved in a scuffle prior to her death on the day in question. After an adjournment and deliberations between State Counsel Mc Cammon and Senior Counsel Crawford representing the accused, there was a change of plea which was accepted by the state.
The prosecutor made no objections and the judge accepted the plea. He had postponed sentencing, pending a probation report.
The state contended that on the morning of June 3, 2005, at around 06:30 hrs, Jasodra Sookchine was found motionless on the kitchen floor of their 18 First Street home, with her clothing having what appeared to be bloodstains.
The police were summoned and a cutlass, believed to be the murder weapon was found three feet away from the body. Government Pathologist Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan had stated the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage due to stab wounds to her heart.
The mother of three was eight months pregnant at the time of her demise.
This was Sookchine’s second trial, the first was aborted during November 2009 by Justice Winston Patterson after it was reported that two relatives of the accused had attempted to bribe the foreman of the jury.
Senior Counsel Crawford had based his plea of mitigation on the fact that Sookchine was at the time going through heavy stress, in that his wife was allegedly involved in an extramarital relationship.
He also noted that Sookchine has been incarcerated since 2005, has shown remorse and was very sorry for the embarrassment he caused, and that he has left his children without a mother.
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Boost for fuel-starved Lethem

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