JUSTICE James Bovell Drakes imposed a 13-year sentence on Dharmpaul Gopaul who killed his ‘buddy’, after he, the deceased, chided him for misappropriating his mother’s pension.

Gopaul, has since revealed to this reporter that he will appeal the severity of the sentence.
Meanwhile, in passing his ruling, the Judge described the act as, “a disaster which was perpetrated on your ‘Buddy’, a word used by Senior Probation Officer Claudia Munroe to describe the relationship between the accused and the now deceased.
“You acted impulsively. You acted as a result of what you drank. You were no longer the master of yourself nor master of your mind. You were overwhelmed by liquor. That was your fault, purely your fault,” he emphasised.

“For this disaster, the Law has to punish you. You are a father of two daughters, they sure missed you for the five years you have been imprisoned. As you stand there, you no longer want to see a bottle of alcohol. I do hope it is your steadfast resolution because a life is lost. I have to sentence you for breaking the Law. In my assessment, the sentence is 22 years. However, for the offence of murder for which you were indicted, you were not afforded conditional freedom; you were not placed on bail. I deduct 6 years. I exclude 3 years for your guilty plea, as you did not waste the court’s time. I find no other motive to reduce the sentence. My sentence to you is 13 years. I hope during that time you can conduct yourself in a positive way,” the Judge concluded.
Meanwhile, Senior Probation Officer Mrs. Claudia Munroe, in her report on the prisoner’s background, said Gopaul, of Lot 52 Sideline Dam, Portuguese Quarters, was born to legal union of Gopaul Bhudoo, a labourer and Kamlawattie Budhoo a housewife, both now deceased.
He is the fourth of sixteen siblings, fourteen of whom are deceased, and had attended the St Joseph Anglican School, now Port Mourant Primary. He ceased his formal education after demitting school at Standard Four, now referred to as Grade Six.
Accompanied, then by his brother, the convict would resort to his grandmother’s home, where fruits were picked and sold at the market place, and the proceeds would purchase food for the family .
As a result of this practice, he would be late in his attendance at school. Therefore, he found it difficult to cope and dropped out of school. He is illiterate, but can sign his name.
After leaving school, he was employed at his uncle’s baker shop, then he caught fishes preferably ‘Hassar’, before joining the staff of the Guyana Sugar Corporation as a cane harvester, after which he returned to fishing in the savannahs.
At age 26, the prisoner cohabitated with Sunita Mangar, who bore his three daughters. However, the relationship soured, resulting in separation.
Thereafter, the convict cared for his then ailing mother and two daughters. The daughters claimed that he was a loving and caring father, who cared and nurtured them single-handedly. According to them, he was never violent and his only difficulty was his over imbibing of alcohol. This sentiment was shared by some members of the community, while others alleged that he was hasty under the influence of alcohol.
Meanwhile, members of the community had indicated that the deceased and Gopaul had been friends since school days and were drinking pals. As a matter of fact, they were relatives, since his father and the deceased father were cousins. They lived seven houses away from each other and would often cook together and sleep at each other’s homes.
The prisoner has indicated that on three occasions, the deceased had attempted suicide, and he had taken him to hospital. He stated that they had no previous altercation or animosity against each other.
State Prosecutrix Ms. Renita Singh, relaying the facts last month said, on February 6, 2009 at 10:00 hrs, Gopaul was at his home in company with two friends Seenarine Mangar and Mukesh Nandkissore.

Mukesh was cooking, and Gopaul had sent Seenarine to the shop to ‘buy rum’. Thereafter, Gopaul’s mother enquired from her son, his reason for taking her pension money to by rum.
As a result to the pensioner’s query, Nandkissore shoved Gopaul, who, in turn did likewise.

At about the same time, one Julia Griffith, aged 82 years, was walking towards her farmland aback Portuguese Quarters, Port Mourtant, when she saw three men in Gopaul’s yard. She heard quarrelling and stopped to hear the reason for the dispute. Ms. Griffith heard Gopaul tell Nandkissore: “What you want I will give you,” and she heard him say this three times.

The third time, Gopaul, picked up a cutlass which was on the stairway, some fifteen feet away, and asked Nandkissore, “Tell me now what you want,” before striking him on the neck with the weapon. As a result, Nandkissore fell and blood sprayed from the wound. After seeing that, the eyewitness walked out and returned to her home.

Under caution, the convict said, “He struck me, and I struck he back, me get vex and I pick up the cutlass and chop he.”

Meanwhile, at the crime scene, sleuths on searching the yard in the vicinity of a coconut tree, found a cutlass, with blood stains on its blade.

On February 9, 2009, Dr Vivikakand Brijmohan performed a post mortem examinationand gave the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage, and incised wound to the neck, which was deep, severing muscles and jugular vein.

In an unsworn statement from the dock, Dharampaul Gopaul told the Judge, that he was drinking (alcohol) on that fatal day. However, he could not recall the events of the day as he was under the influence of alcohol.

“I can’t really remember what happen. Sorry for what happen, Sir.”

Gopaul, known as Paulie Gulliver, had initially pleaded not guilty to the capital offence but, ‘threw in the towel,’ and pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter, which was accepted by the State. Defence Counsel was Ms. Kim Kyte John.

(By Jeune Bailey Vankeric)