ECD man pleads guilty to murder over slashing child mother’s throat
A 44-year-old gold miner who had a dispute with the mother of his child over the custody of their son, has pleaded guilty to murdering her by stabbing her 12 times and slashing her throat.
Clevaughn Hamilton c/d ‘Quarters’, and his co-accused 37-year-old Ranachal Singh c/d ‘Andy’, both of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD) appeared last Thursday before Demerara High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon for the murder of Simone Hackett.
While Singh pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter and was further remanded to prison until September 26 for sentencing; Hamilton denied the charge, opting for a trial.
However, on Monday, Hamilton pleaded guilty to the capital offence of murder and was remanded to prison. Like Singh, he too will be sentenced on September 26.
Hamilton and Singh are respectively being represented by Attorneys-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat and Alaira Murphy-Goodman. The prosecution’s case is being led by State Counsel Muntaz Ali, in association with State Counsel Taneisha Sagon.
Hackett, 25, a mother of one of ‘C’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown and Hamilton were involved in a relationship which produced one child, a male. At the time of her death in April 2016, the couple had separated but had a dispute over the custody of their child.
On April 16, 2016, Hamilton contacted Singh, a taxi driver, to transport him to Hackett whom they had lured to the University of Guyana (UG) Access Road, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown.
In luring the woman, Singh called her pretending to be “Dexter”, a man she would usually collect items sent for her son by Hamilton.
At UG Road, Hackett entered the back seat of Singh’s car. Singh then drove off with Hamilton, whom he had known for several years, and the woman. While in the vehicle, Hamilton held on to the mother of his child and stabbed her several times before slashing her throat.
Singh and Hamilton then stopped at a bushy concrete bridge where the former dragged Hackett’s body out of the car and dumped it in a nearby trench. He also disposed of the murder weapon there. After the gruesome act, the men drove to Mahdia, Region Eight.
According to the prosecution’s facts, on their way there, Hamilton caused Singh to stop the car at a canal on the East Coast of Demerara (ECD) where he, Hamilton used his shirt that he had soaked in water to wipe out some of the bloodstains from inside of the car.
Three days later on April 19, 2016, two schoolboys found Hackett’s decomposing body in a trench between Third and Fourth streets, Cummings Lodge, Greater Georgetown.
Her body bore 12 incised wounds. Hamilton, who was arrested the following day by the Police, gave a caution statement outlining the role he played in the woman’s brutal murder.
