Lover to hang for murder

Relatives of Lewis and Ramsook began to cry when a 12-member jury returned a guilty verdict in the San Fernando Second Criminal Court.

Lewis, 20, of Lily Trace, Siparia, showed no emotion and remained silent in the dock when Justice Mark Mohammed asked him whether he wished to say anything before the death sentence was read to him. He refused to answer. Lewis admitted, in written statement to police, that he had gagged and hog-tied Ramsook, 63, in her home at Alta Garcia Trace, Siparia.

Ramsook was found by police wrapped in a sheet, downstairs her house, on November 6, 2003. Her Nissan Almera car was missing.

But Lewis, who testified, told the jury that he went to Ramsook’s house to break off an intimate relationship they had been in for a year.

An autopsy revealed that Ramsook died as a result of gagging, strangulation and blunt trauma to the head.

State prosecutor, Joy Balkaran, said Lewis confronted Ramsook in her house on November 5, 2005, at about 8.30 am. They struggled and Ramsook bit Lewis on the hand.

Lewis choked Ramsook and beat her on the head, then stuffed a sock, with a tie inside it, down her throat. He then hog-tied her with a piece of string. Lewis, the State told the judge and jury, covered Ramsook with a piece of cloth then stole her car. He was subsequently arrested and charged by Sgt Inniss Minors.

The jury retired for 20 minutes and returned a guilty verdict against Lewis.