Ex-soldier jailed for canefield killing

THE accused in the Couva Canefield Cut-Throat Murder Trial, 51-year-old former soldier Zahid Mohammed, was yesterday sentenced to 12 years in jail for manslaughter. The sentence passed on Mohammed, of Preysal Village, Couva, by Justice Herbert Volney. Last Thursday, Mohammed pleaded guilty on the lesser count of manslaughter after he went on trial in the San Fernando First Assize for the September 21, 2001, murder of Narad Ramroop.

Mohammed is alleged to have entered into a contract with a female friend to kill Ramroop, a 44-year-old fabricator, of Couva. The victim’s body was found in a canefield road in Couva and his vehicle was  discovered abandoned a short distance away. Mohammed admitted in a statement to police that he asked his cousin, Nasser Mohammed, to beat up Ramroop. He said the arrangement took an unexpected turn when Nasser cut Ramroop’s throat with a knife. The State accepted Mohammed’s guilty plea on the lesser count through Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul. Attorney Chateram Sinanan, who defended Mohammed, presented a stirring plea on Mohammed’s behalf in which he referred to a petition bearing 233 signatures from the accused man’s hometown in Preysal.

The testimonials prompted Justice Volney to comment: “Maybe the prisoner had a ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ type of nature, since it seemed that his involvement in the killing was out of his character known by his community. “That man, if he was alive today, would be preparing for his fast as a Hindu for the sacred festival of Divali. But instead he lies alone in a cemetery.” Justice Volney told Mohammed: “Violence begets violence, and the court must set an example for other persons who want to take the law into their own hands.”