Record 18 years on Death Row

A 64-year-old killer, who spent a record 18 years on Death Row, has filed a constitutional motion in the High Court seeking a declaration that the commutation of his death sentence was unlawful.

Boodram Bedassie is seeking a declaration that the order of the President commuting his death sentence was unconstitutional and illegal and in breach of his fundamental rights. The motion was filed yesterday in the Port-of-Spain High Court Registry by attorneys Gerald Ramdeen and Mark Seepersad. Bedassie was one of the prisoners whose sentences were commuted in January 1994 following the decision of the Privy Council in the Pratt and Morgan case. That judgment stated that all those prisoners who spent five or more years on Death Row could not be executed. Bedassie, an agricultural farmer, was arrested and charged on November 9, 1974 with the murder of Mohan Dindial on November 7, 1974. He was found guilty and sentenced to death on April 28, 1976. He appealed, but the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal on October 26, 1976. The Privy Council dismissed Bedassie’s appeal on March 24, 1977. After his conviction, Bedassie said he was placed in a cell on Death Row at the Port-of-Spain State Prison. He remained on Death Row for a record 18 years.

In his affidavit, Boodram stated, “no other prisoner in the history of Trinidad and Tobago has been incarcerated on Death Row awaiting execution of sentence longer than I have. The cell in which I was placed was very close to the gallows and I was in constant fear that I could have been executed at any time during the 18 years.” Because of his proximity to the gallows, Bedassie said he used to hear the screams of people being hanged. As time passed, he became very depressed and frustrated because he never knew that he would have been made to suffer for such a long period.

In 1980, Bedassie challenged his conviction and sentence but that was dismissed the following year. He also lost his appeal on the motion. “The feelings that I experienced while awaiting execution of sentence ranged from mere hope to one of utter despair. I was hopeful that the authorities would have considered my case as one deserving of the grant of pardon as several other prisoners who had been placed on Death Row while I was in prison were released by the exercise of the constitutional power of pardon by the President.” He listed two such persons as Andy Thomas and Kirkland Paul, who had been awaiting execution for a period of 12 years before they were released.

Thomas and Paul were convicted in 1975 of the murder of PC Austin Sankar at Crystal Stream Avenue, Diego Martin. The death warrant was read to them on December 4, 1985, but their execution was stayed by Justice James Davis who ordered that they be removed from Death Row. Bedassie said the death warrant was read to him on June 7, 1988 for execution two days later. After the warrant was read, he was moved to a cell closer to the gallows.  “The days that followed were terrifying as I witnessed the authorities carrying out the preparations for my execution.”

On June 8, 1988, Bedassie said he was granted a stay of execution by the Court of Appeal. The applicant recalled hearing Death Row inmates Fazal Mohammed and Gayman Jurisingh screaming and weeping when warrants were read to them. “When the death warrant was read to these prisoners I would witness the preparation of the gallows for the execution of the prisoners. The actions of the authorities made me fearful that the executive could have executed me at any time notwithstanding that I had been incarcerated in excess of ten years.”

Following the Pratt and Morgan judgment, Bedassie said he was removed from Death Row on January 4, 1994.  He recalled meeting the then Marshall of the Supreme Court, Sherman McNicolls. Bedassie accompanied 42 other Death Row inmates to meet McNicolls. A document was read informing the inmates that the death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. If he is released, Bedassie said he plans to return to farming.