Belvedere man who killed wife, stuffed body in barrel sentenced to 25 years imprisonment

Feb 01, 2023 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

Kaieteur News – Suraj Veersammy, the Belvedere, Corentyne, Berbice man who had killed his wife, Devika Vickram, in April 2020 and stuffed her body into a barrel and dumping it into a trench was on Tuesday sentenced to 25 years in prison by Justice Navindra Singh at the Berbice High Court.

Suraj Veersammy

Veersammy, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in December 2022.

Prior to his sentencing, Veersammy expressed remorse saying that he was sorry a life was lost.

Dead: Devika Vickram

Meanwhile, State Prosecutrix, Nafeeza Baig, call on the Judge to consider the gravity and prevalence of the offence when handing down the sentence. “The prevalence of this type of offence in today’s society, senseless violence leading to senseless deaths, the fact that not only did this accused hang the deceased but he even went further to dispose of her body in a barrel and then throw that barrel in a trench,” the attorney said.

Justice Singh subsequently sentenced Veersammy to 38 years imprisonment. That sentence was reduced to 25 years with 10 years being deducted for his early guilty plea and three years, for time served.

Veerasammy was captured by police at the Dharm Shala Shelter for the abandoned, located at Canje, Berbice. The convict had gone into hiding after a villager in Hampshire discovered Vickram’s remains stuffed in a blue barrel and dumped in a trench near the R&S Street, Hampshire Corentyne.

At the time of its discovery, the body was already in an advanced state of decomposition and had a bed sheet tied around the neck. The corpse was later identified as Vickram’s.

While in custody, Veersammy confessed that he and Vickram had an argument over her decision to leave him. He became angry and assaulted her before tying a sheet to a rafter in their one-storey wooden home and hanging her. He said he then cut her body down hours later (when it was dark) and dumped it in a blue barrel they had in the house. He then mounted it on his bicycle to discard of it, but one of his bicycle’s wheels got punctured and he decided to instead roll the barrel into a trench located just a street away from the home he shared with her.

Four days later a Cane Harvester made the discovery.

• Berbice, Corentyne, Devika Vickram, imprisonment, sentenced, Suraj Veersammy