Point Fortin man convicted for 1995 murder released

A POINT FORTIN man is one of the first prisoners to benefit from the findings of a death-penalty case which confirmed that prisoners in Trinidad and Tobago who can no longer be executed because of long delays on death row are not limited to sentences of life imprisonment.

On Friday, after spending 27 years in prison, Reshi Bissoon was released by a High Court judge who was tasked with his resentencing.

In her ruling, Justice Gail Gonzales said the time Bissoon spent in custody was enough to satisfy the punitive and deterrent aspects of the sentence.

Bissoon and two others were tried for the murder of Leslie Ann Ramsey in November 1995. One of his co-accused pleaded guilty to manslaughter while he and Curtis Sirju, the third co-accused, were convicted and sentenced to death by hanging at their trial in 1999.

In 2005, four death row prisoners were successful in arguing a constitutional motion and had their death sentences vacated and replaced with life sentences.

This again was challenged and the Privy Council upheld a ruling of the Appeal Court which emphasised that the usual principles of sentencing should apply.

In 2021, Bissoon, through his attorney Peter Carter, wrote to the Supreme Court registrar asking to be resentenced by a judge.

In his submissions, Carter argued that in cases where the death sentence was commuted, a life sentence was not automatic at a resentencing. He argued the court, in keeping with the recent Privy Council decision of Naresh Boodram, the court had to look at all aspects of the case in arriving at an appropriate sentence.

The State, represented by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, which had been invited since December 2022, by the judge, to respond to Carter’s arguments, and given until January 31, failed to provide a response nor did it ask for an extension of time to do so, the judge pointed out in her ruling.

She said it was for this reason, she brought the matter, which she set for March 1, to Friday’s date because “any other course would mean a further adjournment in this matter.”

Gonzales considered if a judge on the criminal division could entertain constitutional issues in the resentencing exercise, saying she was satisfied she could.

She held Bissoon’s right not to be arbitrarily detained was infringed and the failure to hold periodic reviews of his life sentence was also in breach of his constitutional rights.

“In failing to do so they denied him of any opportunity, he might have had for early release. The breach of his right was real and substantial and directly affected the prisoner’s right to his liberty and his right not to be deprived thereof without due process.”

She granted him the declarations he sought and in determining the appropriate sentence, took into account the aggravating factors of the crime Bissoon was a part of.

Gonzales fixed a sentence of 30 years from which she deducted the 27 years he has been in prison. She also gave him a two-year discount for his prior good character; another three years for his role in the murder - she said he was not the shooter but got instructions to kill another passenger which he did not do - and two for his rehabilitation efforts and his low risk of reoffending, leaving 23 years.

As a result, she held the time he spent in custody was “enough to satisfy the punitive and deterrent aspects of the sentence.”

“No useful purpose can be served by the continued detention of the prisoner. His time spent in custody already exceeds the proposed sentence.

“The Prisoner is therefore sentenced to time served is to be released with immediate effect, ” she ruled.

The murder for which Bissoon was convicted, took place in November 1995. Charlene Ramsey was in a car driven by her sister Leslie Ann when another vehicle crashed into theirs on Balisier Avenue, Pleasantville. Leslie Ann was shot by one of the men who got out of the other car.

Charlene was bundled in the front seat and she pulled her sister to her side the shooter drove to La Romaine while two other men sat in the back seat, one of whom pointed a gun at her head, threatening to shoot her.

She was taken to a cane field and left there with her sister’s body. She managed to get help and the police were contacted. Her sister was declared dead on arrival at the hospital. Leslie Ann died of a bullet wound to the chest.

Bissoon confessed to participating in the killing. He was the one who pointed the gun at her head from the back seat of the car and assisted her in taking Leslie Ann with her when they drove to the cane field.