Two plead guilty to murder, 1 freed

AFTER 15 years in jail, two men charged with murder pleaded guilty and while one was sentenced to a year and four months, the other was freed.

Ian Little, 43, of South Oropouche, was freed and Marlon Peters, 44, of Carapichaima, was jailed.

Before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds in San Fernando High Court, Little and Peters pleaded guilty to murder in accordance with the murder-felony rule dictated in the 2011 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council's judgment of Nimrod Miguel.

Before that ruling, no one charged with murder could plead guilty to a capital charge. The case laid down a new constitutional principle that not every charge of murder warrants the death penalty, as death can result but not have been contemplated by a person who committed a lesser offence.

Little, Peters and two other men had gone to the home of Nigel "Keith" Singh at Rancho Quemado, Palo Seco and confronted him about drugs. His wife and two children were at home. Singh was taken to an oil pumping jack, where he was shot in the knee.

Little, Peters and George, in their trial before Justice Herbert Volney, were found guilty of murder and sentenced to hang. After they had spent about three years on Death Row, the men's case came up in the Appeal Court in 2012. Appellate judges Paula-Mae Weekes, Alice Yorke Soo-Hon and Rajendra Narine ordered a retrial.

In sentencing yesterday, Ramsumair-Hinds said that after the men did not get the drugs from Singh, it was Little who said, “Time to leave.” When Singh was taken to the oil pumping jack nearby, neither Little nor Peters shot him.

Clearly, Ramsumair-Hinds explained, their intention was not to kill Singh when he did not cough up any drugs, and therefore the mandatory sentence of death by hanging was not applicable.

Having regard to their guilty plea and the 15-plus years in prison, Ramsumair-Hinds ruled that that no useful purpose would be served by further incarcerating Little. As for Peters, he will serve the remaining year and four months in jail.