Jiaved Ruhumatally’s prison sentence was reduced from 42 to 15 and a half years following his retrial. The time he spent in pre-trial detention was deducted from the sentence.
After his first conviction was overturned by the King’s Privy Council, Jiaved Ruhumatally was tried a second time. At the end of this trial, he was sentenced to 15 and a half years in prison for the unpremeditated murder (manslaughter) of the former employee of the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), Marie Gérald Lagesse, in 2005. The judge Pravin Harrah of the Assize Court ruled this Tuesday, October 8, 2024.
The case dates back to February 2005, during a robbery at the MCB headquarters in Port-Louis. Initially sentenced in December 2015 to 42 years in prison for the assassination of Marie Gérald Lagesse, Jiaved Ruhumatally, a 44-year-old former street vendor, appealed to the Privy Council. The Law Lords noted a “series of irregularities” which led to a “grave injustice”. The Privy Council thus declared the first mistrial and ordered a new hearing in the case.
At the retrial, Jiaved Ruhumatally pleaded guilty to a reduced charge. In his confession to the police, he recounted that two months before the robbery, he had met an MCB orderly, Vinessen Subbaroyan, who revealed the plan to him. A driver named Mitil Sotrooghan had been recruited into the team, as had Daniel Désiré Steve Monvoisin.
On the day of the robbery, Vinessen Subbaroyan had dropped a rupee on a metal staircase; it was the signal they were waiting for to enter the bank. After finding himself in the vault, he hit and gagged the victim with his shirt. Additionally, several bags of coins were placed on his body. The autopsy concluded that he died of asphyxiation. The sum of Rs 51.8 million was taken that day.
In sentencing, Judge Pravin Harrah said he took into account various aggravating and mitigating factors, as well as the exceptional length of the proceedings. The judge also noted that the accused had pleaded guilty, but he highlighted the seriousness of the offense and the impact on the victim’s family.
Taking into account that the maximum sentence in the case is 20 years in prison, the Court ultimately decided on a one-year sentence reduction due to the prolonged procedural delays. The judge also ordered that the time spent in preventive detention by the convict be deducted from his sentence. Jiaved Ruhumatally has so far spent 46 days in police detention, 2,438 days in preventive detention and 1,587 days as time already served.
Related News :