A High Court judge in Trinidad and Tobago, on Monday, sentenced two men, including a jilted husband, to hang for the murders of two people 11 years ago.
Justice Malcolm Holdip sentenced Basdeo “Bas” Ramlochan and Siewkumar “Bobby” Chankapersad to death. The 12-member jury took less than an hour to return the guilty verdict. The men were on trial at the San Fernando High Court, for the murders of Sunita “Michelle” Ramlochan, 29, and her common-law husband Rahim “Bam” Abraham, 46, a car dealer.
Hired hitman
The court was told that Ramlochan and his friend, Chankapersad, hired a hitman to do the killings. The couple died after being shot in the bedroom of their Fyzabad home on October 15, 2006. The killer remains at large.
State attorneys Stacy Laloo-Chong and Anslem Alexander led evidence from police officers. The evidence indicated Chankarpersad confessed to soliciting and paying a hitman, on behalf of his co-accused, to murder the couple. Alexander gave the police an account of the role he played in the slayings.
The State also led evidence from an unidentified civilian witness. According to the State, the eye witness was approached by Ramlochan on six occasions between 2004 and 2006 to find someone to carry out the murders.
Marital problems
The witness, a security guard, testified Ramlochan complained that he was having marital problems and his wife wanted to take his money, house and child. The court heard Ramlochan and Sunita eventually separated and divorced.
Ramlochan did not give evidence during the trial, but Chankapersad admitted to soliciting a man named “Strong” to carry out the murders for TT$30,000.
Both men were arrested by police in 2006.
