Former GDF Coast Guards, Sherwin Hart, Devon Gordon, and Deon Greenidge were convicted in May 2013 for the August 20, 2009 murder of Bartica gold miner, Dwieve Kant Ramdass. The trio was sentenced to death by hanging by High Court Judge Franklyn Holder.
It was previously reported that the three former Coast Guards forced Ramdass into their boat at Caiman Hole in the Essequibo River. There, they relieved him of $17M in cash which he was carrying in a box before throwing him overboard.
They turned to the Court of Appeal where they are asking for the conviction and sentence to be overturned.
However, the commencement of the hearing of the appeal has been stalled as the Court of Appeal is seeking to locate some missing records from the men’s trial. The missing records have to do with shorthand recordings of the trial proceedings which were taken by some women. The men’s appeal came up for hearing on October 18, 2019, but was deferred to this morning for reports.
At the initial hearing, the men’s lawyers Nigel Hughes and Latchmie Rahamat raised preliminary issues as it related to the state of the records of appeal. They pointed out that some parts of the record of the trial proceedings were missing, among other things.
This morning, Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards, who is among two other judges hearing the appeal, reported that the court has only been so far able to locate the judge’s minute book. The Chancellor assured that every effort is being made to locate the records made by the shorthand typists. This matter comes up on December 17, again, for reports.
Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Dionne McCammon is presenting the State’s case.
