JUSTICE SERVED…Man who ran from justice for 18 years after murder gets life sentence.

Fifty-seven-year-old Deonarine Bhikari was on Wednesday sentenced to life in prison for hacking his neighbour to death. 

The victim, Daniel Singh did not approve of Bhikari’s relationship with his young daughter. The killing took place on May 21, 2000, at Enmore, East Coast Demerara (ECD).

Bhikari had been earlier found guilty of the man’s murder by a jury following a trial before Justice Jo Ann Barlow at the High Court in Demerara.

Judge Barlow, in her sentencing remarks, admonished Bhikari for his beastly act, noting that the court strongly condemns the unlawful killing. 

According to the Judge, grown men in any community must assist in maintaining law and order and not behave like beasts.

The killer must serve a minimum of 30 years before he is eligible for parole. The period he spent on pre-trial remand must be deducted from the parole eligibility term.  

Bhikari was represented by lawyer Nirvan Singh while Attorney-at-Law Konyo Sandiford-Holder was the prosecutor.

Daniel Singh was a 49-year-old single father who once served as the Chief Bailiff of the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court, East Coast Demerara.

According to reports, on the morning of May 21, 2000, Singh’s children watched helplessly as Bhikari chopped their father about his body.

Singh was sitting on his step when he was attacked. The cutlass-wielding man then turned his attention to the barking dogs, killing three of them. The deceased man’s then teenage daughter, Bhagwantie ‘Nalini’ Singh, was also attacked and chopped by Bhikari.

Following the brutal attack, Bhikari had fled to neighbouring Venezuela but was eventually apprehended in May 2018.