Corentyne man jailed for killing “Dry Shrimp” back in 2008

Jul 17, 2016 News

A man who was incarcerated since 2008 on a charge of murder, but subsequently pleaded guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter has been jailed for seven years.
Omar Bacchus, 23, called ‘Batty Shine’ of Bloomfield, Village Corentyne Berbice was indicted for the 2008 murder of Chandradat Hemraj, 34, called ‘Sugar Boy’ or ‘Dry Shrimp’ . He appeared before Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed jury in the Berbice High Court.
The accused, through state appointed attorney at law, Perry Gossai, had indicated to the court that he wanted to take a certain course of action. He then pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder, but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
A probation report was then ordered by Justice Reynolds. The report was presented by Senior Probation and Social Service Officer Claudia Munroe. The report detailed that Bacchus was the youngest of four children. His parents were both alcoholics.
He had a poor upbringing and left school at the age of nine and began working, doing odd jobs to assist the family. He continued in the same vein until he was incarcerated. At the time of his incarceration he was the sole breadwinner and resided with an older brother who was an alcoholic and “Junkie”.
He was a product of child labour and illiterate. He smoked marijuana and drank alcohol. He was also accused of smoking cocaine and committing petty crimes in the community.
The accused and deceased were both friends. They used to hang out, drink and smoke together. The deceased was described as a “junkie”. However, he was helpful to his family and two sisters suffered mental breakdown after his demise.
In a passionate plea of mitigation attorney at law, Perry Gossai, asked the court to be lenient with his client who was a product of circumstances he had no control over. He was incarcerated for eight calendar years because of poverty; he could not afford a lawyer. His constitutional rights were breached because he did not get a trial in a reasonable time.
He said that his client has thrown himself at the mercies of the court and is pleading for leniency.
Justice Reyonlds before passing sentence, expressed his disappointment that after 50 years the country is not where it should be, in that a citizen could be known as “Batty Shine”. He wondered what is happening in the society. He lamented the time that the accused spent in jail and urged that more should be done for persons who live in troubled environments.
The judge stated that he had in mind 25 years. He however took a number of factors into consideration. He subtracted five years for him pleading guilty, the eight years during which he was incarcerated, another year for his circumstances and age and one for the plea made by his lawyer, thus leaving a total of seven years.
The case for the prosecution as presented by Prosecutor attorney at law Stacy Goddings was that between August 30 and September 3, 2008 at Bloomfield Village, Corentyne Berbice, Bacchus murdered Hemraj, a father of three who was found dead at Bloomfield, Corentyne days after he went missing.
Hemraj of Third Street, Bloomfield, Corentyne Berbice was found face down in a ditch located at the back of a yard behind an abandoned house. He had left his home at Letter Kenny about three days before to attend a religious function a few villages away but failed to return home.
It is understood that he had returned to his home village, but instead of going home he had stopped at a birthday celebration a few houses from where he lived. While he was there he was asked to purchase some cigarettes and was given a bicycle and $1,000 to run the errand. He never returned.
When the body was found it was semi-nude with visible marks of violence and there were indications that he was also sodomised . He had no shirt on and his pants and brief were around his knees.
A post mortem performed on the body by Dr. Viviknand Brijmohan gave the cause of death as Asphyxia, drowning and multiple injuries.
Six persons were initially arrested, however Bacchus was charged with the murder.

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