Guyana: Hotel Proprietor’s Killer Sentenced to 25 Years After Decade-Long Legal Battle

More than 12 years after the killing of Georgetown hotel owner Joseph “Joey” Jagdeo, Bryan “Big Foot” Leitch has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the crime. The sentence concludes a lengthy and complex legal process that moved through several levels of Guyana’s justice system.

Justice Gino Persaud handed down the sentence recently at the Demerara High Court, following Leitch’s recent conviction for murder by a 12-member jury. The prosecution was led by State attorneys Delon Fraser, Mtumika Lumumba, and Padma Dubraj, while attorney Excellence Dazzell represented the convicted individual.

The conviction followed a retrial ordered by the Court of Appeal, which had previously overturned Leitch’s 2018 manslaughter conviction and accompanying 33-year prison sentence. Jagdeo, a prominent Georgetown businessman and proprietor of the South-Central Hotel on South Road, was 62 years old when he was killed in November 2013.

Court proceedings revealed that Leitch had been staying at the hotel on November 13, 2013, along with a female companion. Evidence presented during the trial indicated that Jagdeo discovered his cellular phone was missing and confronted Leitch about the matter. Prosecutors stated that the dispute escalated into a violent attack that ultimately claimed the hotelier’s life.

The following day, a hotel caretaker became concerned after being unable to access Jagdeo’s room while carrying out routine duties. After gaining entry, the employee made the grim discovery of Jagdeo’s body hidden beneath a bed. His hands and feet had been tied with pillowcases, and he had been gagged.

A post-mortem examination conducted by Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh concluded that Jagdeo died as a result of hemorrhage caused by blunt-force injuries, combined with suffocation and compression of the neck.

Leitch was 19 years old when he was first charged in connection with the killing. During his initial trial, a jury found him not guilty of murder but convicted him of the lesser offense of manslaughter, resulting in a 33-year prison sentence. However, that verdict was later challenged in the Court of Appeal, which quashed the conviction and ordered a fresh trial. The retrial ultimately ended with a guilty verdict for murder.

Having spent nearly 13 years behind bars since his arrest, Leitch will receive credit for the time already served while on remand. Justice Persaud’s sentence effectively closes one of the country’s longest-running homicide cases, ending a legal journey that stretched across more than a decade.

Source: snn.gy

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