Man on death row says he was defending his manhood

– “He is not gay, he doesn’t go in for that” – fiancée

By Danielle CampBell

When 35-year-old Brian Vandeyar admitted to the crime for which police accused him, he never expected to spend 10 years on death row awaiting the hangman’s noose. Vandeyar, of Vryheids Lust, East Coast Demerara, was sentenced to death by hanging after admitting to the murder of his co-worker, Haimnauth Ramnarine.

Ramnarine, 42, called “Miner” of Riverstown, Essequibo, and Vandeyar had been working and living in cabins in a highly forested area at Governor’s Lyte, Mahaicony Creek.
However, what was shocking and ironic about Vandeyar’s supposed crime was the fact that Ramnarine had sneaked into the employer’s house to sodomise him.
The saga began on the morning of August 23, 2003 when Vandeyar said he was drinking vodka, but began feeling tired. Vandeyar explained that he took a shower, went to bed clad only in his underwear and left the door slightly ajar so he could take advantage of some fresh air. The death row inmate recounted that sometime during the night, he felt a weight on his back and a burning in his buttocks.
Vandeyar, who was lying face down, claimed that he became startled and failed in his attempts to overpower the person straddling him. He related that he reached for a knife he kept under his pillow and stabbed his attacker five times in the leg and buttocks with the hope of freeing himself.
The man said when his attacker fell to the floor, he noticed that “ he was still kicking up” so he stabbed him twice more. “I fire two more juk at he but me nah know if it connect,” he said. According to Vandeyar, he was horrified on recognising the attacker as Ramnarine, and hurriedly jumped into a canoe, paddling as fast as he could across the creek to secure help for the injured man.
Still armed with the murder weapon, Vandeyar said he sprinted to the Mora Point Police Outpost in the dead of night and related his story.
Police ranks accompanied Vandeyar back to the crime scene and found an oil bottle, a condom and the dead man’s underwear confirming Vandeyar’s story.
In a caution statement to police, Vandeyar maintained that he was simply protecting his manhood when he stabbed Ramnarine.
However, in 2006, Vandeyar, who was just 28 years old, was condemned to die by hanging after a jury comprising six males and the same number of females returned the unanimous verdict.
Vandeyar was clearly emotional at the announcement, but maintained the composed expression of a man prepared for any reality.
Some observers were of the opinion that the jury was limited in its understanding, and interpretation of the law since an admission did not translate to a posture of guilt. In fact, the law treats cases of someone killing in circumstances of self-defence, extreme provocation or the prevention of a crime differently from regular homicide cases.
“I think the jury felt that because the accused admitted to the offence meant that he was guilty, and so they convicted him. So the judge had no choice but to sentence him to death because at that time the death penalty was mandatory in murder convictions,” said a legal mind familiar with the case.
The pathologist, Dr Vivikanand Brijmohan, who performed the autopsy, revealed that Ramnarine had a “gaping anus”, indicating that he was habitually in the practice of sodomy.
Dr Brijmohan said Ramnarine was five feet, eight inches tall and had 10 wounds on the body.
Vandeyar’s lawyer, Marcella Hinds-Thompson said Vandeyar had recognised that his actions resulted in the loss of life, but she insisted that the special circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime did not warrant the imposition of the death penalty.
It was dark, Thompson said, with the closest house being 100 rods across a creek when Vandeyar awoke to the horrific reality of a naked body on his back.
She described Ramnarine’s act as a “forceful atrocity”, adding that her client had a duty to protect himself, even if it meant killing his violator.
Thompson noted that the accused was entitled to prevent a crime against his person, and as such, the killing was not unlawful.
The attorney said the accused tried fighting off Ramnarine, but was overpowered and employed what he felt were “necessary measures”. The employer of Vandeyar and Ramnarine, Krishnadat Manickchand said Vandeyar was very quiet.
In fact, Manickchand said Vandeyar was his most trustworthy employee.
Manickchand had testified to seeing a pair of underwear and a bottle of cooking oil next to Ramnarine’s body.
However, the then State Prosecutor Nadeen Singh said the state had proven that Vandeyar stabbed Ramnarine with the intention to kill, while having no legal justification.
Singh said the killing was unlawful since Vandeyar was not provoked, acting in selfdefence or trying to preventing a crime.
She explained that Ramnarine had already fallen to the floor when the accused continued stabbing him.
Calling into question Vandeyar’s sexuality, Singh added that the deceased still had a right to life regardless of whether he was bisexual.
She also found it strange that Vandeyar would go to bed with only his underwear in a bushy area plagued by mosquitoes.
The prosecutor said that the accused tried to patch up the original version of the events in a statement he made from the dock.
On February 9, 2011, Vandeyar appealed his sentence, but prison officials escorting him to the appeals panel, arrived 10 minutes late, resulting in a deferral to March 9, 2011.
However, Vandeyar is currently on a review list for a November hearing, but has not received a confirmed date.
The death row inmate, who recently revealed his intentions to get married, said he is extremely confused and frustrated by the pace of the local judicial system that has kept him confined for defending himself.
His fiancée Denise Dass describes him as easygoing, charming and a fervent protector of his image.
“He is very cool, he is not easily angered. He is a good person. He’s loving and generous, but when he can’t take anymore, he gets really mad,” Dass pointed out.
Disclosing how she met Vandeyar, Dass said she had been married before but her husband died in an accident in 1996.
“My daughter was just three years old when I met Brian nine months after the accident. We became friends and the relationship started to grow,” Dass noted.
She recalled that his voice was the attracting factor in the early stages of the relationship, and the way he spoke as well as his mannerisms later lured her in for good.
In 1997, the couple soon established a common-law union and began living on the East Coast Demerara.
Vandeyar and Dass parted ways in 2001 after Dass left the country with her daughter, lost contact with Vandeyar and was convinced that it was the end of the relationship.
However, Denise returned in 2009 and upon enquiring about Vandeyar, learnt that he was a condemned prisoner on death row.
To say she was surprised and shocked beyond her wits, is putting it mildly, and Denise immediately journeyed to the Georgetown Prison to rekindle her lost love.
“It was after I left that he began working with the Manickchands, but he is not gay and he doesn’t go in for that. He’s not into those things.” She divulged that she has sent letters to the acting chancellor of the Judiciary Carl Singh, explaining Vandeyar’s position and he was kind enough to arrange for an appeal.
However, she lamented the lengthy wait for justice, insisting that even if the killing was not justifiable, Vandeyar has already paid his debt to society.