AFTER nearly a decade of legal proceedings, 57-year-old Jamal Bacchus of Caledonia, East Bank Demerara (ECD), was, on Tuesday, found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter in connection with the 2015 stabbing death of minibus driver Dhanshana Ram.

The unanimous verdict was delivered by a 12-member jury at the Demerara High Court before Justice Nareshwar Harnanan.  Bacchus was initially charged with murder, but after a year-long Preliminary Inquiry (PI), Magistrate Fabayo Azore, in 2016, committed him to stand trial on the lesser charge of manslaughter, having assessed the evidence presented to the court.

The incident occurred on February 4, 2015, near the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) access road at Timehri, EBD.

According to police reports, Bacchus and Ram, 43, were involved in a heated argument during which Ram sustained multiple stab wounds about his body. He was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where he later succumbed to his injuries.

Throughout the trial, Bacchus was represented by defence attorneys Nigel Hughes and Kiswana Jefford. The prosecution’s case was led by Attorneys-at-Law Praneta Seeraj, Abiola Lowe, and Mtumika Lumumba. Justice Harnanan has set June 17, 2025, as the date for Bacchus’s sentencing.

With the jury’s verdict now handed down, the court will turn its attention to sentencing, where mitigating and aggravating factors are expected to be considered.