Guyanese woman deported after serving time for family feud murder

August 21, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source

The United States of America on Wednesday deported the first member of a Guyanese family that was convicted for the 2010 murder of their countryman, Ganesh Ramgoolam, in Schenectady, New York.

Angelene Priya Davis, formerly Angelene Parbhudial, who received a five-year sentence for her role in the shooting death of Ramgoolam, was returned with permission of the Guyana government and was accompanied by U.S. deportation officers.

Parbhudial had married a United States citizen in an attempt to defeat deportation, but it failed.

She was ordered deported by an immigration judge at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York.

On February 20, 2010, Ramgoolam, a bus mechanic, was ambushed and gunned down outside 935 Maple Avenue, an act that prosecutors say marked a violent end to a feud between two groups of Guyanese.

Prosecutors say Ramgoolam was at a party and got involved in a heated conversation on the phone between the Parbhudials and their perceived enemies. He and a friend drove to the Parbuhdial’s house only to be surrounded.

Ramgoolam, who died at the scene, was felled by bullets fired from a .22 caliber gun as he stood in a driveway.

“You left him dead on the cold ground, face down. Why? You have destroyed so many lives because of your ignorant actions,” Uneesa Ally, the dead man’s widow had declared in a New York courtroom during the sentencing of her husband’s killers in 2011.

Dhanashar “Tony” Persaud, who was said to be the shooter, received 18 years to life behind bars as part of a negotiated plea.

“You intentionally executed him. I think of him falling to the floor. Did he yell? Did he cry? Or did he even have any time for that?” Ally had screamed at Persaud, who hung his head and teared up in the courtroom.

Three of Persaud’s accomplices, siblings Vishan “Anthony” Parbhudial, then 23, and the now 25-year-old Angelene Parbhudial, who are his cousins, and her boyfriend, Richard Baliraj of Queens, were sentenced separately.

Baliraj received 10 years because prosecutors say he fired one round from his AK-47 assault rifle that missed the victim while Vishan and Angelene Parbhudial were sentenced to seven and five years respectively. Vishan had a shotgun, but never pulled the trigger and Angelene was armed with a bat, prosecutors said.

The defendants’ varying sentences for gang assault were based on the threat level they posed to the victim.

On the day of their sentencing, everyone except Angelene Parbhudial apologised and expressed regret to the family of the deceased.

Persaud, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, expressed remorse and said he regretted killing Ramgoolam.

“When I thought I was doing the right thing, I was only making a bad decision,” he said, adding he hopes others don’t make the same mistake he did. “My actions caused a lot of hurt.”

Judge Karen Drago described the Parbhudial family as “dysfunctional” and expanded on Ally’s remarks about the ignorance of the plotters.

“Not only was it ignorant, it was absolutely barbaric, a shootout on a city street, laying in wait and then to corner him off to make sure you get the job done,” she said.

The four defendants were ordered to share in paying back the $4,400 funeral cost and will be on probation for several years after they are released from prison. They all face deportation to their native Guyana and in Baliraj’s case, Trinidad and Tobago, because they are not U.S. citizens.

Another Parbhudial sibling, Adrian, 25, was convicted of numerous criminal charges, the most serious of which was attempted aggravated murder for the shooting of two cops.

Their mother Omawattie Parbhudial had also pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution.