Teen pleads guilty to manslaughter

THE State yesterday accepted a plea of guilty on the charge of manslaughter from Ria Rampersad, the country’s youngest female to be committed to stand trial for murder. Rampersad, who was 14 when she was arrested, threw herself at the mercy of the court with her attorney saying the youthful defendant was filled with a “great sense of remorse” for the killing. Now 17, Rampersad was brought from the Women’s Prison at Golden Grove, Arouca, for trial before Justice Rajendra Narine in the Second Criminal Assizes in the San Fernando High Court. The accused’s attorney, Frank Seepersad, indicated his client’s intention to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, and State prosecutor Narissa Ramsundar accepted the plea. Rampersad was charged with the murder of her neighbour Waneisha Williams, 15, whom she stabbed with a letter opener on June 9, 2001. Reading the facts of the case, State attorney Ramsundar informed the court that the unlawful killing stemmed from an altercation over a boy for which both the accused and the deceased had felt affection.

It was around 7.30 pm on June 9, 2001, Ramsundar said, when the accused went to a shop near her home at Coquette Street, Ste Madeleine, to change a cheque. Upon her return, she was confronted by Williams and a group of people. Williams, the court heard, walked up to Rampersad and slapped her in the face. Rampersad then threatened Williams. Rampersad later armed herself with a letter opener, placing it in the pocket of her school shirt, and hid in a nearby track, waiting in ambush for Williams. As Williams walked by, Rampersad accosted her, demanding to know why she (Williams) slapped her (Rampersad). A brother of the deceased intervened in the argument and told the accused to go home. Instead, Rampersad walked towards Williams (Waneisha) and dealt her a stab in her chest with the letter opener. Williams was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital (SFGH), while Rampersad went to the Ste Madeleine Police Station where she admitted to the stabbing. Williams died four days later, and an autopsy confirmed she died from the stab wound to her left upper chest, with a “moderate to severe degree of force.” 

In mitigation, defence attorney Seepersad told Justice Narine the accused and the deceased were once good friends, but a 20-minute confrontation over a boy led to the killing. “One (person) is dead and another arrested, but that person (the boy) is moving ahead in life,” Seepersad said. The attorney added that while the accused was remanded at the St Jude’s Home for Girls, she spoke to others about her experience, and the need to exercise control in situations. Seepersad pleaded for a non-custodial sentence for the accused, but State attorney Ramsundar submitted that Rampersad be imprisoned for her crime. Justice Narine ordered a probation officer’s report on Rampersad, and postponed the case until October 21 when he will give his ruling.