2 Debe brothers released after beating third brother to death in 2005

TWO brothers from Debe in south Trinidad, who admitted to causing the death of another brother in 2005, have been ordered by a High Court judge to be released immediately.

Brothers Latchmi Persad Ramnarine, also called Scare, and Samraj Ramnarine, also called Clydie, were before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas in the San Fernando High Court. They were charged with the murder of their brother Kassie Ramnarine, also known as Raccoon, on December 9, 2005.

The two beat Kassie and tried to bury him in the mud in a dasheen patch, He died days later in hospital.

The cause of his death was head injuries and meningitis due to blunt trauma to the head.

Both men held plea discussions with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, first writing in April 2022, asking to be allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter. The State accepted the plea request and the matter was sent to St Clair-Douglas’s trial list in March 2023, after being case-managed by Master Sherene Murray-Bailey.

On June 1, the brothers were arraigned before St Clair-Douglas and pleaded guilty, after which they were sentenced.

On the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offence, the judge began with a starting-point sentence of 25 years. No adjustments were made for the aggravating and mitigating factors of the offenders, but they received a one-third discount for their guilty pleas, leaving sentences of 16 years and eight months.

They also benefited from a deduction of the time they spent on remand, which amounted to 17 years, five months and two weeks. Since they had already served the sentence the court imposed, the judge ordered their immediate release.

Assistant DPP Anju Bhola presented the facts of the case to the judge.

On the night he was beaten, Kassie told a neighbour his two brothers were beating him at home. He hid behind a heap of stones and galvanise and the neighbour returned to his house, where he saw Samraj hitting and cuffing Kassie, while Latchmi plannassed him with a cutlass. Kassie was dragged to a pile of wood and a piece was used to hit him on the head and back. He was then dragged to the road before the neighbour lost sight of them.

The brothers' niece then saw them quarrelling with Kassie, who she heard saying, “Allyuh leave me nah, allyuh go kill me.” She saw them pull her uncle into a dasheen patch, where the other two tried to bury him.They then dragged him back to their house by his arm.

The police and emergency health services were called and Kassie told police his two brothers had beaten him. Latchmi began to cry, and Samraj said, “We shoulda kill him.”

Kassie was taken to hospital, and died on December 14.

Lutchmi told officers the night before the beating, Kassie was “cussing and carrying on,” and on the night of the incident, he (Lutchmi) came home drunk and got “fed up,” so he beat his brother. He also said on the morning after the incident the police let him go since Kassie said he did not want trouble with them.

He showed officers Kassie's room and the cutlass he used to planass him.

The police found a bloodstained stone.

When questioned by police, Samraj said he heard his brothers
arguing and when he went to find out what happened, Kassie and Lutchmi were scrambling under a shed and the tussle reached down the road, where he tried to part them.

He said in trying to keep the two apart, Kassie stumbled and fell over in a concrete drain. He did admit to pushing his brother “kinda harsh” and “with a little force” into the drain. He denied cuffing or kicking his brother or seeing Lutchmi beat him with a piece of wood or planassing him with the cutlass.

Lutchmi was represented by attorneys Selwyn Ramlal and Sherry Ann Ramlal. Deputy public defender Raphael Morgan and public defender Michael Modeste represented Samraj.