Trinidad man on remand for 16 years freed over killing when he was 15

(Trinidad Express) One November night in 2005, four people were liming at a house in Arima drinking puncheon when one of them, a 45-year-old man, indicated he wanted to have sex with another member of the group, a 15-year-old boy.

The boy and the other two group members then stabbed and chopped the man before pouring gasoline on his body, setting him ablaze and threw him over a precipice.

Yesterday, the boy, now 32 years old, was ordered to be released from prison after spending more than 16 years on remand awaiting trial.

The order was made by Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds after he, Ricardo Gittens, pleaded guilty to the crime earlier this year.

While the mandatory sentence for capital murder is death by hanging, it does not apply to minors.

But even though he was ordered to be released, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds said this did not mean she had not taken into consideration the “magnitude and darkness of the death” suffered by Joseph Self.

The sentence imposed was based on a maximum sentence indication that the judge had previously given.

Yesterday Justice Ramsumair-Hinds said she was of the view that the appropriate starting point in the sentencing exercise was 20 years’ imprisonment.

However, given Gittens’ guilty plea together with the time he had already spent in custody, his time in jail had already been served.

The judge said though, that she had some concerns about his re-entry into society. It was for this reason she ordered that as part of the sentence, he be placed under the supervision of a probation for the next three years.

The probation officer is to present a report to the court every three months, and Gittens is to make himself available before her every year on November 30, for the next three years.

The other two members of the group – “Ricky” and “Puerto Rican” - that were said to have participated in the killing were never charged.

Ricky had been arrested by investigators but later released, while Puerto Rican was never found.

Self’s body was found on November 9, 2005, over a precipice in Blanchisseuse. An autopsy concluded he died from multiple stab and chop wounds.

In August of 2006 Gittens was arrested and questioned by homicide officers over the death.

In his statement, he told officers that on the night in question that he, Self, and two other people identified as “Ricky” and “Puerto Rican” were liming and drinking at Ricky’s home. While there, Ricky informed Gittens that Self indicated he wanted to have sex with Gittens.