Boat captains in collision that left 10 dead found not guilty of manslaughter

(Cabesh Persaud and Devon Thomas)

Devon Thomas, called ‘Beast’ and Cabesh Persaud, called ‘Dube,’, the captains of the two boats that collided back in 2013 in the Mazaruni River, claiming the lives of 10 persons were on Tuesday found not guilty of manslaughter by a jury. Thomas and Persaud were each on trial for 10 counts of manslaughter before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the High Court in Essequibo.

Those that died are Deon Moses, Ulrick Grimes, Christopher Ramnarine, Zahir Baksh, Brazilian National Francisco Olivera Alves, Kevon Ambrose, Keanu Amsterdam, and his brother Ricky Bobb, Jermaine Calisto, and Jewan Seeram. After they were formally indicted by State Prosecutor Tiffini Lyken, the two manslaughter accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Reports are that on January 22, 2013, while being the captains of two travelling speedboats, Thomas and Persaud, killed 10 occupants who had been on board the vessels in an incident that occurred at Crab Falls in the Mazaruni River. Thomas, the captain of the vessel called ‘Mattrani’ which was carrying 13 persons, and Persaud, the captain of another vessel called ‘Dube’, carrying six passengers, were traversing the river when the boats collided, resulting in the deaths of 10 persons.

The Dube was travelling from Parika and was destined for Puruni, while the Mattrani was leaving Puruni and was destined for Parika through Bartica when the accident occurred.