A South Oropouche man, who was 16-years-old in 2010 when he killed his abusive employer and burnt his body, was yesterday sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.
Christon Kellon Adams pleaded guilty in the San Fernando High Court to murdering dog lover Hikmet Ahmad who owned a dog sanctuary in South Oropouche.
Adams helped care for the dogs and also did chores at Ahmad’s house at Ralph Narine Trace, South Oropouche.
According to the agreed facts, their relationship was strained because Ahamad was very abusive towards Adams.
On that fateful day on January 10, 2010, Adams washed Ahamad’s van and removed some items from the back seat.
State prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal said, “On this day the accused had enough of the abuse and when the deceased began to hurl more insults at him after he was unsatisfied at the work he had done, he took a piece of iron he found lying on the ground and hit him with it.”
Ahamad fell to the ground in an unconscious state.
Adams then placed Ahamad’s body in a box and burned the body. Adams then took a female pitbull and three puppies, which he claimed Ahamad had promised him.
He placed them in Ahamad’s van and drove to his aunt’s house in Morne Diablo where he removed the items and the animals.
He then abandoned the van in a field and walked back to his aunt’s house. The blood stained van was discovered by the police at Quarry Road the following day.
Later that day, Sgt Douglas and PC Titus were on inquires when they entered a private road at Ralph Narine Trace and discovered the charred remains.
Three days later, the police went to Grant Trace where they met Adams and his father.
Adams said, “The man was pushing up he hand in my face and ah take a piece ah pipe and hit him.”
Adam’s attorney Renuka Rambajhan, in her mitigation plea, said the Ahmad used to curse and insult Adams and on that day he called him stupid at least four times.
In passing sentence, Justice Althea Alexis Windsor noted that the death sentence cannot be considered for an offender under the age of 18.
The judge started the sentence at 25 years but reduced it after considering the mitigating factors, the time spent in custody and his guilty plea. She ordered that the matter come up for review every two years.