24 years living in jail

Ian Seepersad and Roodal Panchoo were under 18 years old when they committed murder. As a result, they were ordered to be detained at the State’s Pleasure. However, that has been deemed to be wrong. They should have been ordered to be detained at the Court’s Pleasure, according to the Privy Council in 2003.

With the new guidelines, Seepersad and Panchoo returned to court for a review of their sentences. They have been in prison since 1981, when they were arrested for the murder of 60-year-old Sumintra Seepersad in Piparo between March 7 and 8, 1981.

They were found guilty before Justice Mustapha Ibrahim in the San Fernando High Court on July 21, 1986. At the time of the offence, Seepersad was 17 and Panchoo, 15.

The review hearing was heard before Madame Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court yesterday. Bindra Dolsingh and Marissa Gomez represented the State, while Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen appeared for Seepersad and Panchoo. Deputy Prisons Commissioner Herman Rougier was in court for the hearing.

Ramdeen asked the court to take into consideration the five years which the applicants spent in prison awaiting trial. He said a review should have taken place in 1986. He asked the court to follow the Privy Council’s guidelines in the Trinidad case of Kumar Ali and Leslie Tiwari, which was decided in London on November 2. Ramdeen said according to Rule 285 of the Prison Rules, the court must take into account that a prison year amounts to only eight months. He described his clients as model prisoners who never breached any prison rules.

Ramdeen said his clients were entering the 25th calendar year in prison, which really amounted to 36 prison years.

Yorke Soo Hon pointed out that there was a perception in the 1980s that a life sentence amounted to no more than 15 years. Ramdeen said if that was true, then his clients had already served their life sentences.

In his response, Dolsingh described the murder of Sumintra Seepersad as heinous. He described the killing as similar to what Chuck Attin did when he killed two Westmoorings women in 1994. He asked the court to send a strong message that such crimes will not be tolerated in this society.

Dolsingh said if the calculations were correct, it would mean that Seepersad and Panchoo had already served 16 and a half years.

"It could be argued that the applicants were unlawfully detained and that the State would be open to be sued for unlawful imprisonment from 2003 to now."

Dolsingh continued, "There are other prisoners who would be beneficiaries of extreme financial gain." He also wondered if Seepersad and Panchoo were ready to be released in to the society.

At the end of the submissions, Yorke Soo Hon said she needed time to decide what sentence to impose on Seepersad and Panchoo.