The Court of Appeal has set March 15, 2021, to hear arguments in the appeal of three former Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guards who were convicted of the murder of Dwieve Kant Ramdass and have been sitting on death row since 2013.
Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Dawn Gregory held a Case Management Conference (CMC) on Friday. During today’s hearing, several issues were ironed out.
In August 2009, Sherwin Hart, Deon Greenidge, and Devon Gordon were charged and remanded to prison for the August 20, 2009 murder of Ramdass.
Following a Preliminary Inquiry (PI), the Magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence against the men for them to stand trial for the killing before a judge and jury.
Their trial commenced in May 2013 before Justice Franklyn Holder and a 12-person jury.
Reports are that on the day in question, at Caiman Hole in the Essequibo River, the trio forced Ramdass into their boat and relieved him of $17 million, which he was carrying in a box for his employer. They then dumped Ramdass overboard.
During the three-month-long trial, the prosecution called 16 witnesses. And during the proceedings, the court admitted caution statements given by the former GDF Coast Guards to detectives.
After deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous guilty verdict to all three men for the crime. Justice Holder subsequently sentenced them to death by hanging.
After the sentence, the trio moved to the Appeal Court asking for their conviction, and sentence quashed.
Hart and Greenidge are being represented by Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes and Attorney-at-Law Ronald Daniels. Attorney-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat represents Gordon.
In his statement, Gordon said that he had only been a soldier for about a year and a half. He said that he was stationed at the Coast Guard section and was doing patrol work.
It was between 13:00h and 14:00h on August 20, 2009, Gordon, Hart, and Greenidge were on patrol.
Gordon said that they were doing searches with the Coast Guard boat, and it was Hart who drove the boat to Parika. He said he observed Hart speaking to an East Indian man while at Parika.
The man later joined them on the Coast Guard boat, and they moved off from Parika. It was noted in Gordon’s statement that the man was carrying a “brown box.”
Gordon said when they were in the middle of the river; Hart stopped the boat and told them the man had “nuff money” in the box. In his statement, Gordon said that all three of them decided to “kill the man” and “tek de money.”
Gordon also said that he did not see who threw Ramdass’ body overboard but just heard a splash in the water. He said that they divided the money, and he called his sister to come and collect his portion.
Meanwhile, Greenidge, in his statement, said that it was Hart who pushed Ramdass overboard. He said that after Hart pushed Ramdass overboard, he (Hart) gave him, along with Gordon several million dollars to “shut up.”
In their defense, the men all said that they did not write the caution statements and that the Police ranks wrote the documents.
