Death row prisoners to wed

DEATH ROW prisoners Natasha De Leon, 30, and her boyfriend Darren Roger Thomas, who have been sentenced to death for the brutal murder of a Princes Town taxi driver, have applied for permission to marry at the Golden Grove Prison in June. De Leon who is at Golden Grove, and Thomas, who is in Death Row at the Port-of-Spain Prison, are being assisted in their wedding preparations by fellow inmates and prison officers. Female inmates at Golden Grove are making the wedding dress, while the cake and ring are being purchased by prisons officers. Sources told Sunday Newsday De Leon and Thomas made the application to marry late last year and it was reportedly approved by retired Prisons Commissioner Carlos McHoney.

Yesterday, Prisons Commissioner John Rougier said he was not aware of the application and since assuming office more than three months ago, he had not seen any such application from the two condemned prisoners. Rougier said if permission had in fact been granted by McHoney, he will have to go through the entire process because the Ministry of National Security has to be notified and proper procedures put in place for such an event to take place. Rougier said he will be looking into the matter because the wedding cannot take place until certain procedures are in place. Prisoners have taken marriage vows behind bars in the past. A few years ago, a Death Row inmate married his girlfriend at the Port-of-Spain Prison.

De Leon and Thomas were convicted and sentenced to death by Justice Herbert Volney for the murder of taxi driver Chandradath Maharaj on February 6, 1993. Maharaj, of Lengua Village, Princes Town, was hijacked by the couple and taken to Mosquito Creek, where his throat was slashed. According to reports, the couple attacked Maharaj because they wanted money to go to Panorama. In arguing her appeal a few years ago, De Leon’s attorney James Dingerman argued before the Privy Council in London that his client was too young to die. He said she was under the age of 18 at the time she committed the offence. De Leon and Thomas are before the courts for the murder of another taxi driver, Reuben Jaskaran, 13 years ago. Jaskaran, was found dead of multiple stab wounds near a pond in the vicinity of the the Usine sugar factory at Ste Madeleine. That matter is scheduled for hearing tomorrow in the San Fernando High Court.