A 25-year-old man, who posed as a vagrant before he robbed and killed a limer at a popular Port-of-Spain nightclub in 2004, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter. David Alleyne, of Mon Repos,?Morvant, was charged with the murder of TSTT employee Darren Baksh, but during a court hearing yesterday he pleaded guilty to the lesser count. The matter was heard before Justice Mark Mohammed in the Port-of-Spain High Court.
Baksh was shot dead after visiting a nightclub at Cipriani Boulevard, Port-of-Spain, on December 5, 2004. According to the facts in the case, Alleyne, dressed in tattered clothing, sat near to Baksh's car which was parked near to the club. After leaving the club with a female companion, Baksh went to get his car but Alleyne confronted him. Alleyne shot Baksh once in the stomach before robbing him of his wallet. Baksh, 26, who lived on El Carmen Road, Arima, was taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where he died while being treated.
A short while after the robbery, Alleyne attempted to withdraw money from Baksh's bank card but he was captured by CCTV cameras at the ATM machine. He then disposed of the murder weapon as well as the clothing he had disguised himself with. In a mitigation plea on Alleyne's behalf, his attorney Michelle Solomon asked Mohammed to consider her client was 18 years old at the time of the killing. She said he was immature.
With the use of a probation officer's report, Solomon gave an account of Alleyne's time in remand while awaiting trial. She noted he excelled in sporting and music programmes in prison. She said he was an avid footballer as well as being a pannist. He also attained two CXC passes while enrolled in an education programme. State prosecutor Renuka Rambhajan countered Solomon's arguments, saying that as an 18-year-old he would have appreciated the consequences of his actions.
Rambhajan also described the robbery as a pre-mediated crime which required a lot of planning. Mohammed is expected to sentence Alleyne next Tuesday.
