Five-year jail term handed to youth who killed ‘DJ Viper’
December 18 2025
The High Court has imposed a five-year prison sentence on Dwayne Thomas for the unlawful killing of 28-year-old Brian Pitman, popularly known as “DJ Viper,” bringing to a close a case that arose from a deadly altercation at a social gathering in 2023.
Acting Chief Justice Navindra Singh delivered the sentence on Wednesday in the Demerara High Court, ordering that the term be reduced by the period Thomas has already spent in custody.
Dead: Brian Pitman
In outlining the penalty, the court began with a benchmark of 20 years’ imprisonment for the offence. That figure was substantially reduced after the judge took into account several mitigating factors.
These included Thomas’s early admission of guilt, favourable reports from probation and prison officials, expressions of remorse, as well as his young age and the circumstances in which the offence occurred.
Together, these considerations resulted in a 15-year reduction, leaving a custodial sentence of five years.
The case was prosecuted by attorneys-at-law Simran Gajraj, Christopher Belfield, and Geneva Wills, while Thomas was represented by attorney-at-law Madan Kissoon.
Thomas had admitted responsibility for manslaughter after originally being charged with murder.
The guilty plea was accepted by the court on the basis of an agreed summary of the events, with Thomas being 20 years old at the time the incident took place.
The facts disclosed that on the evening of January 8, 2023, Pitman was attending a birthday celebration at a relative’s residence in Laluni, along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
During the event, a confrontation erupted outside the venue when Thomas and several men riding motorbikes attacked Omar Bacchus, Pitman’s father-in-law.
Pitman attempted to intervene, holding a piece of wood, but was met by Thomas and two other men armed with sharp weapons. He was knocked to the ground and repeatedly struck during the assault.
Pitman was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
A post-mortem examination found that he suffered four deep incised wounds inflicted by a sharp, heavy object, with doctors attributing his death to haemorrhage and shock.
