Starting life over after 30 years in jail

WHEN Boodram Bedassie was arrested for murder on November 9, 1974, he was 34 years old. He had already been separated from his wife and he had no children. He lived in a small house on a parcel of land in Kelly Village, Caroni. Bedassie was sentenced to hang for killing a man known as Mohan Dindial. He lost his appeals and had the death warrant read to him in 1988. A last minute appeal to the High Court stayed his execution. In 1994, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was removed from Death Row and ‘promoted’ to the rank of orderly in charge of the yard at the Port-of-Spain State Prison. His health started to deteriorate as he suffers from diabetes, congestion of the heart, and tuberculosis. He has been in and out of hospital for the last three months. His lawyers Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen filed a constitutional motion on his behalf in which they were seeking certain reliefs including his freedom.

Last Thursday, a pardon signed by President George Maxwell Richards was read to Bedassie at the Port-of-Spain State Prison. He was a free man, going home for the first time in 30 years. The house where he used to live is no longer there. It was demolished and another house built on the same lot by his brother Mahadeo. Bedassie’s nephew Ramesh now lives there. Also gone was a house where Bedassie’s “long time” neighbour Ramcharan Bickaraoo used to live. Bickaroo was arrested and charged in 1975 for the murder of his wife. The house where Bickaroo used to live was also demolished and the parcel overgrown by grass. Bickaroo, now 71, is still in prison, and he too is suffering. Bedassie’s story revealed a life of struggle and suffering in the prison system. But there was one person who stood up with him for 30 years. Basdaye Bir, his sister-in-law, used to visit Bedassie twice a week for the entire period he spent in prison.

“His brother used to go, but everytime he went, he came back home sick. He couldn’t see how his brother was suffering. Because of that, I used to go twice a week for the time he was in jail.” Bir had no problem going to the prison that often to see Bedassie. “I was a member of his family and somebody had to go and ensure he was alright.” So faithful was Bir to her task that she was present when the prison authorities were weighing Bedassie for his execution. “I was there, I saw everything, I had gone to visit him. It was really a scary feeling,” Bir added. Following Bedassie’s release from prison on Thursday, it was Bir who was looking after him. When Newsday turned up for an interview that day, it was Bir who ensured that the pardoned prisoner was properly dressed for the occasion. She stood by his side throughout the interview. Bedassie’s nephew Ramesh, a doubles vendor at Piarco International Airport, said emphasis must now be placed on getting Bedassie well again. Bedassie has become very small and frail over the last three months.

Ramesh said the family plans to get him proper medical care and ensure that he eats well to become strong again. He was taken to a private doctor on Friday which resulted in him being warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Where will Bedassie live? Bir has taken full responsibility for looking after him. There are renovations taking place at his brother’s home. During the interview Bedassie asked, “whose house is this?” After Bedassie was convicted in 1976, he was placed on Death Row. During his 17 and a half years there, he spent at least 23 hours a day in the cell. There was no airing on weekends or when there was a shortage of prison officers. He was allowed out of the cell for a bath which was supervised by a prison officer. He also had to clean the slop bucket which was used as a toilet in his cell. His despair was compounded in that the shower was located next to the gallows. Bedassie said he was placed in a cell close to the gallows and he was in constant fear that he could have been executed during his time on Death Row.

He used to hear the sound of the gallows trap door and the screams of persons being hanged. Bedassie said he was hoping for a pardon one day. He said there were prisoners who came into Death Row after him and were the recipients of a Presidential Pardon. He named Andy Thomas and Kirkland Paul as two such persons. Thomas and Paul were convicted of the murder of Police Constable Austin Sankar at Crystal Stream Avenue, Diego Martin in 1975. President Noor Hassanali, acting on the advice of the Mercy Committee, pardoned Thomas and Paul on August 31, 1987. Bedassie’s hopes were dashed on June 7, 1988 when the death warrant was read to him. He had been awaiting execution for 12 years. After the death warrant was read to him, he was moved to a cell closer to the gallows. After he was weighed, the prison authorities proceeded to a room that housed the gallows and tested the trap door. “I would hear when the trap door in the fly open. This experience was horrifying and dreadful. This procedure would take place once per day until the day of the execution.” Attorney Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj came to Bedassie’s rescue and filed a constitutional motion and got the High Court to stay the execution.

Bedassie said he was present when the authorities read death warrants to other prisoners such as Fazal Mohammed and Gayman Jurisingh. “When the warrant was read out to these prisoners I would hear them scream and weep. This experience filled me with despair and fear. 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.” Bedassie said sometime in 1990, he, along with Theophilus Barry and Oliver Ford, were taken into the office of the Superintendent of Prison where they were told that they were going home for Independence. But the attempted coup took place in July 1990 and that plan was aborted. In 1993, the Privy Council delivered judgment in the Pratt and Morgan case and ruled that all prisoners on Death Row for more than five years should have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. Bedassie benefited from this judgment and was removed from Death Row on January 4, 1994, along with 41 other condemned men. His new sentence was a term of 75 years in prison.