Retrial ordered for duo sentenced to 75 years for murder

Jan 28, 2021 News

Randy Isaacs.

Devon Thomas.

Kaieteur News – The Court of Appeal has ordered a retrial for Devon Thomas and Randy Isaacs, who were sentenced to 75 years imprisonment each for the murder of Enterprise, East Coast Demerara businessman, Kumar Mohabir.
In 2015, the duo had faced a trial before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Georgetown. They were sentenced after a mixed 12-member jury found them guilty of the crime.
Through, attorney-at-law, Nigel Hughes, both Thomas and Isaacs moved to the appeal court to challenge the conviction and sentence.
Among other things, they argued that the trial judge erred in law in failing to direct the jury to disregard and/or to place no weight on the evidence relating to the identification parade because it was conducted in unfair circumstances.
According to the duo, the trial judge committed another error in law in not adequately putting and/or explaining to the jury their defence.
In handing down her ruling, Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards, agreed that the defence was not adequately put to the jury, taking into consideration the evidence presented during the trial.
As such, she set aside the conviction and sentence and ordered a retrial at the next practical sitting of the Demerara assizes.
Back in 2015, Devon Thomas, 22, a construction worker from Lot 95 Better Hope South, East Coast Demerara and his co-accused, 19-year-old Randy Isaac, were sentenced.
The duo is charged with the murder of Mohabir, called “Dusky” and “Fire Link,” of Lot 7 Fernandes Street, Enterprise, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
He was attacked and brutally stabbed by a drunken mob on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, on February 23, 2013.
The man, who operated a tent rental business at his residence, was attacked after he went to the location to collect a tent he rented to his neighbours for the Republic Day celebrations.
He was stabbed by a group of intoxicated persons, armed with broken bottles. The businessman was subsequently rushed to the Woodlands Hospital, where he died while receiving treatment.
Following the incident, the victim’s older brother, Navindra Mohabir, who was also wounded in the attack, identified two suspects (Thomas and Isaac) as the persons who participated in the incident, which led to his death.

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