Woman on Death Row cannot be hanged

HIGH COURT Judge Peter Jamadar yesterday ordered that a female convicted killer be removed from Death Row. Angela Ramdeen, 42, who was convicted on January 14, 1997, for killing her two stepchildren and burying them at the back of her home at Carlsen Field, Chaguanas, was ordered by Justice Peter Jamadar in the San Fernando High Court to be removed with immediate effect and kept in a cell appropriate for murderers awaiting sentence.

Having made this ruling, Justice Jamadar ordered in a constitutional motion Ramdeen filed that the woman appear before a judge of the High Court to be re-sentenced. The maximum sentence the judge can consider, Justice Jamadar ordered, is life imprisonment. British Queen’s Council Peter Carter came to Trinidad to argue the motion in the San Fernando High Court two weeks ago. He contended that Ramdeen had been on Death Row just two months short of seven years. It was submitted that she ought not to be hanged because her stay exceeded the Pratt and Morgan Privy Council (PC) stipulation that the State had five years to ensure all convicted killers’ appeals are exhausted. Keeping a convicted killer beyond five years in such a situation is deemed to be harsh and unusual punishment. Dr Fenton Ramsahoye QC and attorney Anand Ramlogan appeared with Carter. The State, represented by attorney Ian Benjamin, challenged the motion on the ground that Ramdeen’s delay was no fault of the State’s processes.

In his ruling yesterday, Justice Jamadar stated that after conviction and sentence for the murders, the local Court of Appeal dismissed Ramdeen’s appeal on October 15, 1997. Her appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was dismissed on December 1, 1999. Justice Jamadar stated that by January 14, 1999, the two-year target laid down in the Pratt and Morgan Privy Council decision for the State to ensure all domestic appeals were completed, had elapsed. Ramdeen was condemned to Death Row but solicitors in London had a medical doctor re-examine her. A medical report, which stated that Ramdeen had suffered “battered wife syndrome” formed the basis of a fresh appeal to the Privy Council in an attempt to save Ramdeen a trip to the gallows.

The Privy Council referred the case back to the local Appeal Court on March 23, 2000. The procedure for having this done involves the applicant petitioning the President of the Republic. This was done on April 10, 2000, but Justice Jamadar stated in his seven-page judgment that all of Ramdeen’s “final documents” were sent to the President on October 22, 2000. Justice Jamadar stated that on October 15, 2001, the Minister of National Security sent his provisional advice to Ramdeen’s attorneys and requested a response within a month. The National Security Minister then was current Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday, who at the time was also Prime Minister. But Justice Jamadar stated that Ramdeen’s British lawyers requested from November 5, 2001 to March 26, 2002, the medical report referred to in the minister’s advice, but this was not done until September 3, 2003.

On January 24, 2003, attorneys wrote to the President requesting Ramdeen’s sentence be commuted to life imprisonment based on the Pratt and Morgan ruling. This was not done and Ramdeen filed her motion on June 17, 2002. Justice Jamadar stated that yesterday would have made it six years and ten months since Ramdeen was on Death Row. The judge stated: “Given the Pratt principle, ‘a State that wishes to retain capital punishment must accept the responsibility of ensuring that execution follows swiftly as practicable after sentence,’ allowing a reasonable time for appeal and consideration for reprieve, is applicable.” Justice Jamadar ordered that given the fact that there was no justification by the State why Ramdeen’s stay on Death Row was exceeded by a year and ten months, the execution of the death sentence on her cannot be lawfully carried out. He ordered that the sentence be commuted to life and that her continuing stay on Death Row from January 14, 2002, constituted a breach of her fundamental rights. Justice Jamadar ordered that monetary compensation for Ramdeen be assessed by a Master of the High Court.