$17M river heist/Dweive Kant Ramdass murder… GUILTY!!! Ex-Coast Guard ranks sentenced to death

By Latoya Giles, July 3, 2013 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source

Victim: Dweive Kant Ramdass

The three ex-Guyana Defence Force Coast Guard ranks charged with the August 2009 murder of Bartica gold miner Dwieve Kant Ramdass, were yesterday all found guilty and sentenced to death by Justice Franklyn Holder.

The judge had earlier summed up the case and the 12-member jury returned later in the afternoon with a unanimous verdict after a little more than half an hour of deliberations.

The defendants – Sherwin Hart, Devon Gordon and Deon Greenidge – were found guilty of the murder which occurred on August 20, 2009 at Caiman Hole in the Essequibo River. The prosecution’s case was that the men forced Ramdass into their boat and took him to the aforementioned location where they relieved him of $17M in cash he was carrying in a box to Bartica for his employer, before dumping him overboard.

Senior State prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin presented the case, while Attorney at law Latchmie Rahamat represented the three accused.

As the verdict was being read to the three men, one could hear loud gasps from the dock. From their facial expressions, they all appeared shocked by the verdict. One of the men’s relatives burst into tears. The woman had to be consoled by other relatives who were inside the court.

While handing down the sentence to Hart, Justice Holder asked whether he had anything to say. Hart maintained his innocence to the court. “I’m innocent of this charge, your Honour,” Hart said. The second defendant, Devon Gordon, declined to say anything. Deon Greenidge also maintained that he was innocent. “My honour I’m not guilty…and it’s unfair for me to go to jail for something I know nothing about.”

Sixteen prosecution witnesses and one defence witness all gave evidence in the three-month long trial. When the trial began in April, the prosecution had conducted a voir dire, to determine the admissibility of three caution statements which Hart, Gordon and Greenidge gave to the police.

Flashback: The three ex-Coast Guardsmen being taken back to prison following their first court appearance in 2009

At the end of the voir dire, it was determined that the three statements were given freely, thus prompting the main trial to commence.

Devon Gordon in his statement said that he had only been a solider for about a year and a half. Gordon said that he was stationed at the Coast Guard section and was doing patrol work, which was mainly the “stop and search of vessels”.

It was between 13:00hrs and 14:00hrs on August 20, 2009, that Gordon, Hart and Greenidge were on patrol. Gordon said that they were doing searches with the Coast Guard boat. He had stated that Hart 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. Gordon in his statement 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’s body overboard, but just heard a splash. He said that they divided the money and he called his sister to come and collect his share. Gordon said that he gave a “canter man” the money to give his sister, however, soon after they all got arrested, including his sister.

Deon Greenidge, in his statement said that it was Sherwin Hart who pushed Ramdass overboard. He said that after Hart had pushed Ramdass overboard, he (Hart) gave him along with Devon Gordon several million dollars to “shut up”.

During the trial the prosecution had put forward both police and civilian witnesses. The defence brought up challenges that the men were beaten while in police custody. All of the police witnesses denied this claim. The men in their defence all said that they did not write the caution statements and that the documents were written by the police ranks.