Boys charged with Sean’s murder

Sean, a Second Year pupil of the Waterloo Hindu Primary School, was found dead in a cane field some 300 feet away from his Henry Street West, Orange Valley, home last Tuesday. An autopsy revealed that he died of internal chest and abdominal injuries as well as haemorrhaging due to a foreign object forcibly introduced into his rectum.

The boys charged are a 16-year-old of Orange Valley and his distant relative from Lady Young Road, Morvant, aged 13. The charges were laid around 11 pm Friday night by Ag Cpl Alexis Garcia of the Homicide Bureau (South) after instructions were given by Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson.

A senior homicide detective told Sunday Newsday the older of the two suspects confessed to the gruesome crime, which was committed last Sunday in the cane field. The detective said for a week before the incident the 13-year-old had been asking the 16-year-old suspect to have sex with him. The older boy declined.

On Sunday, the detective said, the two boys lured Sean away from his home by offering to take him fishing at a bay just beyond the cane field. According to the police officer, the younger boy had sex with Sean while the other witnessed the rape.

The rape, the detective said, heightened when the younger suspect plunged a sugar cane stalk into Sean’s rectum while the older boy held him down.

The boys then left Sean in the cane field where he bled to death. Police said the entire ordeal lasted about 20 minutes.

A villager told Sunday Newsday the younger suspect had been seen looking in the direction where Sean’s body was eventually found. At the time, however, Sean had not yet been reported missing. The villager also said the teenager had a troubled look on his face and seemed unusually sad.

When Sean’s mother, Pauline Lumfai, began to search for the little boy, two teenaged suspects reportedly gave her the wrong information that Sean was seen walking down the street with a thin, tall, and baldheaded stranger.

Sean’s battered and decomposed body was found Tuesday morning by villagers. Within hours police arrested the two suspects at their home.

If found guilty of murder, the two boys cannot be hanged. Under TT’s laws, children under the age of 18 cannot face the death penalty. They can be detained “during the State’s pleasure” in keeping with Section 79 of the Children’s Act Chap 46:01.

Legal experts say the objective of this legislation is to protect young offenders from the full penalty of the law as it applies to adults. The State maintains a discretionary power to release the detainee on licence.

The young offender may be released if the Prison Authorities make a recommendation to the Minister of National Security. An Advisory Committee then makes recommendations to the President for the release.

From time to time, the Minister of National Security submits a list of names of inmates to the Commissioner of Prisons for consideration.