Unavailable probation reports on manslaughter convicts postpone sentence
–   Magistrate upbraids Probation Officer
TWO prisoners, convicted of manslaughter, appeared at the Berbice Assizes on Wednesday but Justice Franklyn Holder further postponed sentencing them until April 11. The postponement was because the Senior Probation and Welfare Officer Mitford Warde was not ready to report on the convicts’ history.
Rebuked for his late court appearance, Warde informed the judge that the notice, dated March 24, for the probation report on Hardat Singh called ‘Vickey’ and Kapeldeo Singh known as ‘Rohan’, was received at the New Amsterdam Office of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security the following day.
However, being stationed at Whim, Corentyne, he said the correspondence was forwarded to his district on Monday, March 28, when he was attending a meeting in Georgetown.
Warde added that, on the following day, he returned to the city for a similar engagement in relation to his work and, consequently, was unable to commence the investigation that the court requested for Wednesday.
Apologising to the judge for his lateness, Warde explained that he had to leave persons at Whim, including a United Nations (UN) representative, to be present in court and said, because his department is short of staff, in future, he would be grateful for advance notification, of a week or two, for the preparation of reports.
After listening to Warde’s explanation for being ten minutes late and unprepared, Justice Holder said he was not happy with the way respect is shown to the court, noting that it was the second occasion, in recent times, that such a lapse occurred.
The judge acknowledged, though, that the issues raised by Warde is a problem for the Probation and Welfare Department and not the court. Yet he conceded that the period allowed for completion of the assignment was short. Justice Holder was optimistic that a longer period would be given in future.
Last March 24, the two prisoners, who were originally charged with the capital offence, pleaded guilty to the lesser crime, admitting that they unlawfully killed Brian Chinapen.
The two Singhs had been jointly indicted with Roopdai Sukhram called ‘Shanta’ and Rajendra Lall nicknamed ‘Rajin’, who were acquitted after the State entered a nolle prosequi (withdrew the charge against them).
The unrelated Singhs, on August 7, 2007, beat Chinapen with sticks, into unconsciousness, at Chesney, Corentyne and left him on the stairway of a house belonging to Shameer Osman.
The battered man was taken to Port Mourant Hospital, Corentyne, where he was pronounced dead on arrival and a post mortem performed on his corpse by Dr. Vivikanand Brijmohan, confirmed that death was due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of a laceration to the right kidney.