Two months after early premature release of Neesa Gopaul’s mother, investigation still ongoing

Jan 18, 2024 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Neesa’s Gopaul’s mother Shareema Gopaul.

Kaieteur News – Home Affairs Minister, Robeson Benn at a press-conference on Wednesday said that investigations into the early release of Neesa Gopaul’s mother, Shareema Gopaul are still ongoing.

Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn.

Responding to question on the matter from a reporter, Benn said, “…no, a review is still on underway and as it relates to the issue, we noted when I became a minister that surprisingly persons were being given 90 days remission for work done in the prison system”. Shareema was found guilty by the High Court in 2015 for the murder of her daughter. She was sentenced to 45 years imprisonment after appealing a 106-year jail sentence by the High Court but a ruling from the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in 2022, further reduced her sentence to 25 years.

Murdered, Neesa Gopaul

Shareema had already served 13-years in jail for the crime and was not eligible for parole until serving 15 years so when news surfaced in November last year that she was released early from prison, it took the country by surprise because “it was not adding up”. According to media reports, Gopaul’s mother was released from prison around July/August 2023.

Days later, Shareema was back in jail and the Guyana Prison Service claimed that it had miscalculated her prison term. Benn hinted that the miscalculation could have been because of a mix-up of the number of days granted as remission for good work done in prison before he took office. “…When I became minister, I said that it would be no more than 28 and that we will have to review as we went along,” Benn said before adding that the number of days granted has been reduced to 28 from 90 when he took over the reins of the now Ministry of Home Affairs.

“…But (like) I said what (the days granted as remission) was running originally (Before I took office) created the problem at the time (of her early release)”, Benn continued during his explanation. Benn notified the reporters that when the ongoing review is completed, his ministry will make a release on its final position on the matter.

On October 2, 2010, the partially decomposed body of the teenager who attended Queen’s College was found stuffed into a suitcase, which was anchored in a creek with several dumbbells at the Emerald Tower Resort at Madewini, Soesdyke-Linden Highway.

Bibi and her lover, Jarvis ‘Barry’ Small were found guilty of the teen’s murder following a trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in March 2015. She was initially sentenced in the High Court to 106 years in jail while Small, was sentenced to 96 years. At the initial sentencing, Justice Singh took into consideration the gruesome manner in which the victim who was only 16 when she met her demise, this included the extent of the injuries she received, the manner in which her body was disposed of and the fact that she was killed by persons close to her.

The pair then filed appeals against their convictions and sentences. Gopaul’s sentence was later reduced to 45 years and then further reduced to 25 years with the possibility of parole after 15 years, following appeals to the Guyana Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice in 2022. The CCJ rejected her appeal to have her case dismissed but directed that her co-accused, Small, be freed due to lack of sufficient evidence to link him to the teen’s murder. In 2022, the CCJ overturned the conviction and sentence of Small calling the evidence proffered against him in the lower courts “greatly prejudiced”. Small was freed of the 2010 murder, some eight years after he was found guilty of the crime. CCJ’s Justice Denys Barrow said that the case against Small should have been dismissed since there was no case for him to answer due to the lack of evidence.

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early release from prison, investigation, Press Conference, Robeson Benn, Shareema Gopaul

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