5 guilty of manslaughter

Eleven years after they were charged for the gruesome killing, Phillip “The Boss” Boodram of Dow Village, California; Roger Mootoo of Springvale Village, Claxton Bay; Ricky Singh of Cedar Hill Road, Claxton Bay; Kervin Williams and Aaron “Arc Eye” Grappie both of Pranz Gardens, Claxton Bay, will be sentenced in April for their involvement in the crime.

It was the third trial for the five after two previous trials, in 2009 and 2012, resulted in hung juries as jurors were unable to arrive at unanimous verdicts. The trial also created history as it was the second longest murder trial, spanning a two-year period. The trial began in September 2015.

After a three-day summation of evidence advanced by the prosecution and defence, Justice Norton Jack gave his final directions to the jury before inviting them to deliberate on their verdicts.

The jurors’ deliberations lasted a record seven hours altogether before they returned with the guilty of manslaughter verdicts.

When the foreman of the jury announced not-guilty of murder there was elated murmur from relatives of the men seated at the back of the courtroom. They were immediately silenced when the foreman said, “guilty’ of manslaughter.” All five sat in the prisoner enclosure of the Fifth Criminal Court and shrugged their shoulders when the foreman returned the verdicts. Relatives afterwards said the verdict “just did not make sense.” Rampersad, 45, of Irving Street, Petit Bourg, was snatched from her home on November 25, 2005.

Her decomposing body was dug out of a shallow grave in a cashew field in Claxton Bay on January 5, 2006. A $2 million ransom was demanded for her safe release but it was never paid.

In 2009, three others who were also on trial for Rampersad’s murder were sentenced to 30 years each for their role in the kidnapping and killing of the San Juan businesswoman.

The men, Vivian “Clarkie” Clarke, 36 a father of five; Steve “Boops” McGilvery, 27, and Pernell Martin, 29, were part of a group of nine, charged with Rampersad’s murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

Of the nine, Bobby Sankar was freed, but the rest Boodram, Williams, Grappie, Singh and Mootoo, were to face a fresh trial.

Their second trial ended with a hung trial and they were ordered to face a third.

Senior Prosecutor Tricia Hudlin-Cooper led a team of prosecutors for the State.

The accused were represented by a legal team, which included attorneys Evans Welch, Wayne Sturge, Kelston Pope, Delicia Helwig-Robertson and Danielle Rampersad.