Felonious wounding convict gets life sentence reduced to nine years

A Grove, East Bank Demerara (EBD) man who had been found guilty by a jury of chopping his neighbour who had asked him to turn down the volume of the music he was playing, has lost an appeal of his felonious wounding conviction.

A panel of three Court of Appeal judges led by acting Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag) Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards on Wednesday, disagreed with Andy Boodram that his conviction was unsafe.

The panel, however, agreed that his appeal against the life sentence imposed on him had merit.

As such, he was resentenced to nine years’ imprisonment after the Court of Appeal concluded that the life sentence imposed by the trial Judge was manifestly excessive. 

From the new prison term, the prison authority was ordered by the appellate court to deduct the time Boodram had already spent in custody.

Besides the Chancellor, the panel consisted of Justices of Appeal Dawn Gregory-Barnes and Rishi Persaud. Boodram was represented by Attorneys-at-Law Dr Kim Kyte-Thomas and George Thomas. 

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Mercedes Glasford.

Boodram called ‘Boy’, 37, a father of three, was handed a life sentence on March 29, 2018, by Justice Navindra Singh after a jury convicted him of chopping his neighbour, Deonarine Persaud, called ‘Anil,’ several times with a cutlass on the evening of September 24, 2011.

He had been indicted for attempted murder but the jury by a proportion of 11 to 1 found him not guilty on this charge. 

He was, however, convicted by a proportion of 10 to 2 on the alternative count of felonious wounding; in that, he wounded Persaud, with intent to maim, disfigure, disable or cause him serious bodily harm.

In his testimony at Boodram’s trial, Persaud had recalled asking Boodram to lower the volume of the music he was playing because his sick infant son had been sleeping at the time. 

Despite his pleas, Persaud had said that Boodram refused to lower the music and began hurling a series of expletives at him.

Persaud had told the court that while he was conversing with a female friend, Boodram attacked him with a cutlass, chopping him several times, including to the head and left thumb. 

Moments later, he said that he lost consciousness and later woke up in the Georgetown Public Hospital.

He recalled being hospitalised for some six months, during which time he had to undergo several surgeries and had to do numerous follow-up treatments. 

Boodram, however, had maintained his innocence, claiming that it was another man who had inflicted the injuries on Persaud.