Two men convicted of two murders directly connected to infamous local reputed drug kingpin Nankissoon “Dole Chadee” Boodram will have to serve an additional 22-year prison sentence before they are released.
Leslie Huggins and Junior Phillip were informed of their remaining prison term as they were re-sentenced for murdering Huggins’ cousin Clint by High Court Judge Gail Gonzales on Wednesday.
Clint, who was the main witness against Dole Chadee and eight members of his gang for the murders of a Piparo family of four in 1994, was killed on February 20, 1996.
Boodram’s reputed lieutenant Joey Ramiah allegedly contacted Huggins, his cousin Arnold and Phillip, who was their neighbour, while he (Ramiah) was on remand awaiting trial and offered them $3 million to murder Clint.
Clint was in protective custody but decided to leave the safe house to attend Carnival celebrations with relatives.
On Carnival Tuesday, Clint was liming at Huggins’ home with Huggins, Phillip and the other relative before they left in two vehicles to attend celebrations in Port-of-Spain.
While en route, the men stopped and attacked Clint. Arnold allegedly shot him twice before Huggins drove one of the vehicles into Clint pinning him to a chain link fence.
Huggins then stabbed his cousin Clint several times before Phillip hit him over the head with a piece of wood.
They then put Clint in the car and set it on fire.
When the police found his body and questioned the men, they all denied any involvement as they claimed that Clint had borrowed the car to buy cigarettes and did not return.
However, Phillip eventually contacted the police and confessed to his involvement.
Prosecutors were still able to use Clint’s statements, given to the police before his murder, during Dole Chadee and his gang’s trial. They were convicted and eventually executed in July 1999.
Phillip, Huggins and the other relative were eventually convicted of Clint’s murder in May 2001 and were issued the mandatory death penalty. However, their sentences were eventually commuted to life imprisonment based on the landmark Privy Council ruling in the Jamaican case of Pratt and Morgan, which stated that capital punishment can only be carried out within five years of conviction.
They were re-sentenced for the crime yesterday based on a more recent landmark decision, in which the British Law Lords ruled that those who benefit from commuted sentences should receive definite prison terms as opposed to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives.
Arnold was previously re-sentenced.
Phillip, Huggins and eight former Dole Chadee associates were also charged with murdering his brother Thackoor Boodram months after Clint.
Boodram, a pig farmer, was kidnapped from his home in south Trinidad on December 20, 1997.
A ransom was demanded by his abductors, but 10 days later his head was found in a whiskey box at the Caroni Cremation Site.
The group was convicted in 2002 and their death sentences were also commuted.
Last year, High Court Judge Geoffrey Henderson re-sentenced them and ordered the release of Michael “Rat” Maharaj, Samuel Maharaj, Damien Ramiah, Bobby Ramiah, Seenath Ramiah, Daniel Gopaul, Richard Huggins, and Mark Jaikeran.
Justice Henderson began with a starting sentence of 33 years but after applying discounts for their rehabilitation in prison, the failure of the T&T Prison Service to periodically review their sentences after they were commuted, prison remission, and the time they already spent in prison, he ruled they had completed their sentences.
Although Phillip and Huggins received a similar re-sentencing, they were not released as they were yet to be re-sentenced for Clint’s murder.
In deciding on the appropriate sentence for the duo, Justice Gonzales began with a starting point of 30 years because it was a premeditated killing of a relative for financial gain and intended to pervert the course of justice in Dole Chadee’s case.
She increased it by three years based on them committing Boodram’s murder months after Clint was killed.
She then reduced their sentences to 25 years based on them showing remorse and completing rehabilitation programmes with distinction while in prison.
“Huggins’ attempt at rehabilitation can only be considered as stellar and exemplary. Phillips also had a remarkable record of rehabilitation,” she said.
Justice Gonzales did not agree to deduct the full time they spent in prison from the sentence as they were credited for such when they were previously re-sentenced for Boodram’s murder.
“In this case, although the prisoners have been in custody for many years one cannot lose sight of the fact that it is for two murders arising out of two separate incidents and given the gravity of both offences this sentence should not be subsumed in the earlier sentence,” she said.
They did receive almost three years credit for the time spent on remand before their conviction and the time spent after they were re-sentenced for Boodram’s murder in March, last year.
Huggins was represented by Peter Carter and Vanita Ramroop, while Rajiv Persad, SC, and Ajesh Sumessar represented Phillip.
