Janaite Lall sentenced to death for killing brother
AT the Essequibo Assizes on Friday last, Justice Frank Holder sentenced Janaite Lall to death for the murder of his brother Davenand Sookdeo.
A mixed jury unanimously found Lall guilty of murder resulting in the judge passing the death sentence on the convicted murderer. Lall, who had pleaded not guilty to murder was defended by lawyer Mr. Lashley Bobb.
The judge summed up the evidence to the jury in about three hours after which the jury returned a unanimous verdict after deliberating two hours.
Following the closure of the prosecution’s case by prosecutor Ms. Latchmie Rahamat, the defence counsel elected not to address the jury.
According to the facts disclosed the killing took place on September 5, 2007 at Walton Hall, Essequibo.
Witnesses stated that on the day in question, some friends including Bobby Singh and the accused were drinking bush rum and eating fried fish in an abandoned lot at the back of the deceased and the accused mother’s house.
While the accused and his friends were participating in the spree, the deceased joined them when he returned from work.
It is said that an argument developed between the two brothers over coconuts when the accused left saying: “Ah coming back just now”.
One eye witness testified that he saw the accused ran away from the party and entered his mother’s yard, where he went into the kitchen and returned with a knife with which he stabbed his brother Sookdeo, who collapsed and died.
The accused took the death sentence calmly. (GEORGE BARCLAY)