Dead killer takes on the State

CONVICTED KILLER Boodram Bedassie, who was pardoned in July, but died one month later, is still pursuing a constitutional motion against the State. Yesterday, Bedassie’s attorneys moved to substitute the dead man with his brother Mahadeo, but that failed after it was discovered that the proper procedure had not been adopted. Attorneys Charles Seepersad, Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen, representing Bedassie, appeared before Justice Sebastien Ventour in the Port-of-Spain First Civil Court. Senior Counsel Avory Sinanan appeared for the Attorney General. Three days had been set aside to hear Bedassie’s constitutional motion which he brought against the State while he was still in prison. He was challenging among other things, the order of then President Noor Hassanali in January 1994 commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment, not to be released before the expiration of  75 years.

But Bedassie, 64, who was ill in prison, was granted a Presidential Pardon and released from the Port-of-Spain State Prison on July 29. He was taken by prison ambulance to his brother’s home in Caroni where he spent a considerable time in and out of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. He died in August. With Bedassie dead, his attorneys filed an application in the High Court to substitute the applicant to that of the dead man’s brother Mahadeo. But Sinanan challenged the application, saying that under the rules of the Supreme Court, Mahadeo’s name could not be substituted like that. He said Mahadeo did not have the legal recognition to be the new applicant on the proceedings. He said Mahadeo had to get the permission of other members of the family to adopt the position of applicant. Sinanan also argued that Mahadeo did not have the grant of letters of administration to show that he was the legal person to pursue the matter.

Justice Ventour agreed, rejecting the application and leaving the constitutional motion in limbo. Bedassie’s lawyers told the court they will go before the Chamber Court to get the necessary legal approval to substitute the dead man with his brother. The motion was then adjourned to the Cause List for January. Bedassie was sentenced to death on April 28, 1976 for the murder of Mohan Dindial. He lost his appeal seven months later and his appeal to the Privy Council was thrown out on March 24, 1978. Bedassie remained on death row for 17 and a half years, and it was only when the Privy Council ruled in the Pratt and Morgan case, that his death sentence was commuted and he was removed from the condemned section. On June 7 1988, while on Death Row, the death warrant was read for his execution, but this was stopped by the High Court.