High seas robber sentenced to nine years imprisonment
JUSTICE Barassington Reynolds, at the Berbice Assizes, yesterday sentenced Ram Sookdial, also known as Kevin Narine, and Ayodhiaram to nine years imprisonment for robbery under arms committed on the high seas.
The prisoner, who conducted his own defence, gave notice of his appeal after the sentence was pronounced.
The crime was committed on August 12, 2007, when Balwant Hemraj was captain of his fishing vessel ‘Shiva’ in waters off the Number 47 shore and Sookdial, whom he knew as Kevin Narine and ‘Long Hair’, armed with a gun, robbed him of a 40 horse power (hp) Yamaha outboard engine, a barrel of gasolene, groceries, 1,500 pounds of fish and fish glue, all valued $1,162,000.
Hemraj had four other crew members when a smaller vessel approached and ordered them to lie flat, face downwards.
He said the intruders tied their boat to his boat, jumped aboard his, removed the engine and fish from the ice box, having commanded his assistance.
Probation and Welfare Officer Mitford Ward, in his report on the prisoner’s background, said his birth certificate has the name Ayodiaram and he, vehemently, denied his involvement in the robbery and claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.
The compilation said, prior to the offender’s incarceration, he resided at Lot 90  Rambarran Street, Bush Lot Village, Corentyne, with his wife, Kalawattie and five children and worked as a gold miner in Cayenne for G$1M a month.
He would work for a month and, on some occasions, six weeks, before returning to his family in Guyana where he would stay about three days and then return to his place of employment.
Ward said Ayodhiaram related that he did not attend school until he migrated to French Guiana at the age of ten but dropped out two years later at age 12 and began working as a labourer with private gold miners.
At age 18, the convict met and married Kalawattie Singh called Savitree and ‘Gully’ and they lived together at the Bush Lot address with their five children.
The Probation Officer told the court that Kalawattie attempted to corroborate the information but, eventually recanted, after being confronted with overwhelming evidence to the contrary, admitting that she had a visiting relationship with the offender and that he was not the father of her children. She said he would spend between three and seven days at her home every month or six weeks and would, purportedly, return to Cayenne.
Not known
In Bush Lot, where the convict claims to have lived for the past 13 years, he is not known by alleged neighbours nor other residents.
However, investigations reveal that he is known in Number 69 Village, Corentyne, as Kevin Narine called ‘Long Hair ‘, having lived there for some time with a young woman whose relatives were interviewed and confirmed the relationship.
Ward said Narine is known by persons in the fishing industry as one who was a serious threat to that trade and horrendous stories about him were revealed by fishermen.
He was accused of stealing fuel and other items from fishermen.
Asked, by the judge, if he wanted to say anything in mitigation, the prisoner replied:”I cannot really say anything. I cannot even ask the court to have mercy on me for something I never did. Once again, I will mention that I am truly innocent of this charge.”
Imposing sentence Justice Reynolds told him:”I gave thought to your age, both now and the time of the act and the length of time you were incarcerated pending trial.
“You strike me as an intelligent person, from the able manner in which you conducted your defence. It is really unfortunate that you have chosen a course of life which seems to be on the wrong side of the law.”
The judge said he could imagine the terror the prisoner invoked in the men whom he left to drift out at sea.
He said the offence carries a sentence which goes as far as a term of life imprisonment.

“You have not shown any remorse and you continue to deny the offence. The probation report tendered was not helpful to your cause. In the best interest to all, you should be kept in a confined environment to reflect sensibly and soberly on your past. Use your intelligence to craft the way forward,” the judge admonished Ayodhiaram as he jailed him.