Man, 22, found guilty of killing another with cricket bat

May 18, 2019 News

A 12-member jury yesterday found 22-year-old Jonathan Budhan guilty of manslaughter in relation to beating a man to death with a

Dead: Ramesh Manbodh

cricket bat. Though initially indicted for murder, Budhan was convicted for manslaughter by a jury which returned a proportionate verdict after some two hours of deliberation.
The verdict was in the proportion 10 guilty to two not guilty. The jurors found that on October 26, 2016, Budhan, of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, unlawfully killed Ramesh Manbodh. Budhan cried uncontrollably at the announcement of the verdict. Trial Judge Navindra Singh ordered Budhan to return to court on June 7, for sentencing.
This was after his lawyer Nigel Hughes requested a probation report.
According to reports, Budhan fatally beat Manbodh, 40, of Lot 655 Best Village, West Coast Demerara on October 20, 2016 with a cricket bat. After being admitted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, Manbodh died five days later. It was reported that Budhan was on the run and later turned himself over to police.

Guilty: Jonathan Budhan

Prosecutors Abigail Gibbs, Tuanna Hardy and Teriq Mohamed presented the case for the State.
On Wednesday, Hughes went at length to persuade the jury on why his client should be found not guilty of the crime. First off, Hughes had pointed out what he viewed as several weaknesses in the prosecution’s case and asked the jury to consider the defence of one’s self (self-defence) when retiring to deliberate on a verdict.
According to the lawyer, Manbodh was in the habit of taunting Budhan. Hughes said that the evidence showed that on the day in question, Manbodh called his client an “anti-man” and thereafter attempted to attack him. The lawyer added that the law provides that one can use reasonable force to defend themselves. He said Manbodh attempted to pull out something from his waist, when his client lashed him to the head with the cricket bat.
However, Prosecutor Hardy said that the case was not one of self-defence. She said that it was clear that Budhan wanted to kill Manbodh who was unarmed. According to the prosecutor, Budhan had to have lashed the now dead man with great force, as the post mortem report showed he died from blunt trauma to the head. She said that Budhan used “too much force, excessive force.” She, nevertheless, urged the jury to return a verdict in accordance with the evidence.

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