Brother jailed for beating brother

A SAN JUAN man who physically assaulted his brother over his quarrel for their parents’ property, has been sent to jail for four years.

In November, Rodney Veerasammy pleaded guilty to committing grievous bodily harm on his brother, Elliot, on April 12, 2008, and was today sentenced by Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the Port of Spain High Court.

According to the facts of the case, agreed to by Veerasammy and the prosecution, he barged into his brother’s house and assaulted him.

By doing so, he also breached a restraining order his brother took out against him.

The brother’s dispute stemmed from the property their father left them in San Juan, where Veerasammy got the smaller house to the back of the property and his brother the larger house.

Because of this, Veerasammy, who is in his 50s, was angry and took it out on his brother, taunting him and threatening him.

It was because of this that Elliot took out the restraining order but that did not stop Rodney who, one the day of the incident, barged into his brother’s house armed with some sort of weapon and beat him.

In sentencing Rodney, St Clair-Douglas said he hoped the brothers could have could have settled the issue amicably but Veerasammy refused and even continued being aggressive towards his brother.

He said Rodney did not seem to appreciate the seriousness of the offence and has shown a total lack of remorse for his actions.

“It is a sad day when brothers can’t resolve their differences like brothers ought to,” the judge said.

He said an appropriate sentence for such an offence was six years’ but because he pleaded guilty, Rodney was entitled to a one-third discount, leaving him four years’ to serve.