Point Fortin men sentenced for killing villager, 83

TWO Point Fortin men have pleaded guilty to slashing the throat of an elderly villager one of them accused of molesting someone he knew.

Brandon Hosein and Joel Archargee have since been sentenced for the crime, which occurred in 2013. They were charged with the murder of Stephen Lee, 83, of Cap-de-Ville, on February 25, 2013.

On November 6, Justice Mauricia Joseph sentenced the two men after they were allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter based on provocation in a plea deal with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in September.

The judge accepted the agreed sentence of 25 years for both men but gave them a two-year deduction for their attempts at rehabilitation, their remorse, their good conduct in prison and the factor which led to the act.

She also gave the two a one-third discount for their guilty pleas and deducted the 11 years, seven months and 17 days they have spent in prison, which leaves them with three years left to serve with hard labour.

Hosein claimed he acted in a drunken and marijuana-induced rage after finding out about an alleged incident involving Lee and someone he knew.

He elicited the help of Archargee, his childhood friend. Lee’s throat was slashed. A friend of the two had earlier witnessed Hosein choking Lee.

That friend went to the police and called Hosein on his cellphone and had him on speakerphone.

Hosein told him he “done tie up the man and I want to stash this car, I go call yuh back, I go call yuh back,” before the phone cut off. He called him back and Hosein told him, “Boy, we in the bush, I go call yuh back…we in town, boy, we in town.”

A man walking his dog on Field Road, heading to Santa Flora, found Lee’s body  the next day.

When arrested, Hosein admitted to beating, chopping Lee on the neck and concealing his body under car tubes after he got vex when he saw him.

Archargee told police he was cleaning the car when he heard two chops and “saw the man get chop already and Brandon had a cutlass in he hand.”

In his mother’s presence, he also told them, “Mammy, me eh kill nobody, is Brandon who chop Mr Lee with a cutlass three times in he neck and shoulder and kill him.

“I was right dey with Brandon. I wasn’t going to kill him.”

He admitted to tying a shoelace around Lee’s neck and said he did not know what to do when he saw his face change colour.

"It was then Brandon chopped Lee and they threw him in the bush and covered the body with tyres.

"The plan never to kill the man. It was just to beat him up and take de car…The plan was never to kill him.”

The two were charged on March 20, 2013.

They were represented by Michelle Ali, Nicholas Rampersadsingh, Shuzvon Ramdass and Aleena Ramjag of the Public Defenders Department. Brandon Sookoo represented the State.