ALMOST five years after 57-year-old Corentyne boat captain, Mahadeo Ramdeholl, also known as ‘Chico,’ was killed in a piracy attack, two fishermen on Monday pleaded guilty to the crime.

Doodnauth Singh, 63, and Khemraj Narsayah, 44, both fishermen of Rose Hall, Corentyne, were on trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the Berbice High Court.

Last week, the men had denied that on May 16, 2017, in the county of Berbice, they murdered Ramdeholl during the course or furtherance of piracy.

A 12-member jury was empanelled and the trial commenced. However, on Monday, the men opted to plead guilty to the capital offence. The charge was reread to them and the duo pleaded guilty.

Justice Singh deferred their sentence until February 20, 2023. The state was represented by prosecutor Nafeeza Baig.

According to reports, on May 16, 2017, around 18:30hrs in the Atlantic Ocean in the vicinity of Tain Village on the Corentyne, Singh and Narsayah who were armed with cutlasses, pounced on Ramdelholl’s boat. They attacked him and his two crewmen, Arjun Permaul and Parmanand Nandan.

After relieving the victims of their fish and outboard engine, the men struck Ramdeholl on the head and pushed him overboard. The men also forced Permaul and Parmanand to jump into the water.

Ramdeholl’s body was found near the Rose Hall foreshore the next day and a post-mortem found that he died by drowning.