‘A painful death’Sean Luke trial one of the most high-profile for the year
WHEN 2021 began, the High Court was already preparing to proceed with what would become one of the most talked-about criminal trials of the year.
It centred around the death of six-year-old Sean Luke who was brutally murdered 15 years earlier, supposedly at the hands of two other children in a cane field just metres away from his Couva home.
Since the day he went missing from his home on the afternoon of March 26, 2006, and his bruised and battered body discovered two days later, Luke’s name and the details surrounding his death were something that remained etched in the minds of many for years to come.
The two boys, now men, who were accused of killing the child—Akeel Mitchell, 29, and Richard Chatoo, 31,—would eventually be found guilty of the crime in July following a mostly-virtual judge-alone trial before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds.
While the mandatory sentence for capital murder in this country remains death, Mitchell and Chatoo escaped the hangman’s noose. This was because they were both minors when they carried out the crime. It is unlawful in Trinidad and Tobago for those who were minors when they committed murder to be sentenced to death.
Mitchell was just shy of his 14th birthday while Chatoo was 16.
Had Luke been alive today, he would have been 22 years old.
The convicts were both ordered to serve terms of imprisonment at the court’s pleasure and face periodic reviews by the High Court every three years to determine their suitability for release.
Their first review is set to come up for hearing on September 13, 2024.
However, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds admitted during sentencing in September she did not believe it was in anyone’s best interest for either of the two to return to society anytime soon.
The appropriate sentence for Mitchell was 40 years behind bars, the judge found. But given his good behaviour while incarcerated, the rehabilitative progress he had shown and the time he had already spent in State custody awaiting trial, this sentence was reduced to 17 years, six months and 13 days.
Chatoo, on the other hand, had a less severe sentence since he was a secondary party to the crime. Justice Ramsumair-Hinds found the appropriate starting point for sentencing him was 33 years.
While in prison, he too showed rehabilitative progress, having gained academic qualifications.
Taking this into consideration and also the time he had already served, Chatoo’s sentence was reduced to 11 years, six months and 13 days.
The actual trial process began in February after the two were arraigned by the judge and elected to plead not guilty.
From that point on Justice Ramsumair-Hinds embarked on what is known as a voir dire. This is a process by which the court makes a determination as to exactly what evidence the State would be allowed to rely upon during trial.
The trial beginsAfter that process was completed, the trial began in mid-April.
The court heard the testimonies of multiple witnesses including police officers, some of those from the village where Luke lived, his mother Pauline Bharat and forensic pathologist Dr Eslyn McDonald-Burris. She described the autopsy and the sight of Luke’s body as one of the most traumatic experiences she has ever had.
The little boy was sodomised with a 53 centimetre cane stalk that was pushed until it reached his right shoulder, rupturing multiple organs and causing massive internal bleeding.
It would have been an “extremely painful death” Dr McDonald-Burris testified. Luke would have been dead within minutes, she said.
In her testimony the pathologist went on to describe the injuries sustained.
“I proceeded to check the stalk within the body and it came up through the anus, rectum, behind the bladder, through the pelvic and abdominal cavities, perforating the bowel and stomach and diaphragm, entering the chest cavity, perforating the oesophagus, pericardial sack causing lacerations to the back of the heart and right lung and ending at the upper chest cavity at the bottom of the right collar bone,” she said.
But in spite of the traumatic experience that Dr McDonald-Burris said remains with her to this day, one of the most emotional witnesses to testify was undoubtedly the boy’s mother.
When shown articles of his clothing he was wearing the day he went missing, Bharat was reduced to tears.
She clutched her stomach, leaned over the table in front of her and wailed. “That is my baby’s underwear, his jockey shorts,” she cried when asked by State prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal whether she was able to identify the item of clothing.
Her cries visibly caused some emotional distress of others in the proceedings, including attorneys representing the accused men.
As she sobbed, everyone in the virtual court remained silent. Some bowed their heads while others bit their lips.
As her cries continued, the judge decided to pause the proceedings for a brief period to allow Bharat the opportunity to compose herself.
“We are going to take a short break at this point. Ms Bharat, you can go use the washroom and so on. Wash your face and try to compose yourself. You can take five minutes of even ten minutes if you like,” the judge said .
No need to worryEventually managing to complete her evidence, Bharat recalled seeing Mitchell sitting on the ground on the outside perimeter of her yard after she realised her son was missing.
But there was no need to worry at that point, she testified. Mostly all those in the area were relatives and close friends so she believed Luke was somewhere by someone playing, as he would usually do.
Not long after, she saw a group of boys from the area including Chatoo emerging from the cane field. She enquired of Chatoo if he had seen Luke.
He said he did not before the members of the group proceeded on their way.
The State’s main witness was a man by the name of Avinash Baboolal. He was 17 years old back then and a member of the group that went into the cane field that day.
He explained that on that afternoon, he went with Mitchell, Chatoo, Luke and two of Chatoo’s young nephews into the cane field as they made their way to a river to catch fish.
While walking through the field, Baboolal said Mitchell, Chatoo and Luke diverted off course. While he and Chatoo’s nephews awaited their return, he heard what sounded like a squeal “like the sound when someone turned on a microphone.”
Minutes later, Chatoo and Mitchell re-emerged from the direction they went but without Luke.
Chatoo informed him, he said, that Luke was “taking a poop” and would return home after.
The group then continued its journey to the river.
Attorneys for Mitchell and Chatoo suggested Baboolal was the one responsible for Luke’s death and not their clients.
They questioned why a boy of his age was hanging around such small children and did not even bother to inform Luke’s mother of the last time he saw her son. He did not even inform police of this until he was picked up and questioned, they said.
Baboolal said the reason for this was because at the time be believed Luke had gone missing after he returned home from the trip.
On Luke’s underwear sperm that matched Mitchell’s DNA was found.
Criminal defence attorney Mario Merritt, however, said this did not mean his client had a role to play in the boy’s death. At most, it suggested that Luke was sexually assaulted by Mitchell some time before, but not murdered.
After being detained by homicide detectives and questioned, Chatoo gave a statement that implicated both himself and Mitchell. That interview was video recorded and played during the proceedings.
His lead attorney, Evans Welch suggested however that his client was tricked, threatened and coerced by the officers into admitting to something he never did.
Judge certain of sexual assaultBut Justice Ramsumair-Hinds did not believe this. In passing sentence, she said she was certain of what had taken place.
“In weighing all of the evidence, I am sure about what happened.”
The judge said she was confident that Chatoo and Mitchell had planned to harm Luke, and the fishing trip provided them with the opportunity to do so.
“I weighed up all the evidence globally and I drew the strands together and I have found it all led to one specific circumstance,” she said.
Pointing out that Mitchell’s sperm was found on Luke’s clothing, the judge said she was certain Mitchell had sexually assaulted the boy before he was killed.
“I am sure what happened in the cane field was a planned and frenzied assault. I am sure that accused number one buggered Sean Luke before sodomising him with the cane stalk.
“I believe that accused number two was covering Sean Luke’s mouth, making him an accessory to the crime.
“I believe that accused number one, immediately after discharging, sodomised Sean Luke with the cane to cause grievous bodily harm. Why? Because of the length of the cane and the depth of the penetration,” stated the judge.
She went on to say she was certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that Mitchell pushed the cane stalk in Luke’s body with every thrust going deeper and deeper “until it had nowhere else to go” and in order to apply that type of force, Chatoo lent his assistance.
“I believe the scream Avinash Baboolal heard was the sound of the unimaginable and intense agony Sean Luke was facing. In an attempt to incapacitate him, accused number two placed his hand over Sean Luke’s mouth and neck,” she said.
The final words of the judge to Mitchell and Chatoo were: “May God have mercy on your souls.”
Their attorneys have since filed an appeal. It is not yet known when that appeal will come up for hearing.
Source:
https://trinidadexpress.com/news/local/ ... e8f9d.html
