Former presidential guard and Special Branch officer Yogeendra Sukhdeo was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole only after serving 30 years for the 2023 murder of 21-year-old aspiring gold trader and businessman Amit Singh, a killing Justice Sandil Kissoon described as a “heinous and horrendous crime” driven by greed.
Sukhdeo, who pleaded guilty to the capital offence, was sentenced by Justice Kissoon at the High Court in Demerara after the court considered submissions from both the prosecution and defence, along with emotional victim impact statements from Singh’s parents.
In imposing sentence, Justice Kissoon said the starting point was 35 years before reducing it to 30 years after considering the mitigating factors. However, he ruled that those factors were insufficient to outweigh the gravity of the offence.
“This accused, Sukhdeo, in the course of his wilful plan motivated by greed, bludgeoned his victim, Amit Singh, to death,” the judge said.
Justice Kissoon identified numerous aggravating factors, foremost among them the high degree of planning and premeditation involved in the killing. He found that Sukhdeo induced Singh to meet him under the guise of a legitimate gold transaction before robbing and murdering him.
According to the judge, the murder occurred during the furtherance of a robbery in what he described as a carefully concocted scheme. Singh was isolated, unarmed and defenceless when he was attacked.
The court also highlighted the extreme brutality of the assault, noting that the post-mortem examination revealed multiple blunt force injuries to Singh’s head, face and neck. Justice Kissoon said the number and severity of the injuries demonstrated a clear intention to kill.
He further noted that the murder weapon a piece of wood recovered from the crime scene tested positive for blood belonging to Singh.
Justice Kissoon also stressed the prevalence of felony murders and robberies involving force and violence, stating that citizens must be able to conduct their daily business without fear of becoming victims of such crimes.
The judge placed significant weight on what he described as Sukhdeo’s breach of trust.
He noted that Sukhdeo, a former presidential guard and Special Branch officer, had acknowledged in court that Singh was “like a brother” to him. Instead of protecting that relationship, however, he betrayed Singh’s trust for financial gain.
Justice Kissoon said Singh fought for his life at the hands of a former law enforcement officer and posed no threat to Sukhdeo and described the killing as an act of “cold-blooded murder.”
He also considered Sukhdeo’s actions after the killing, including disposing of Singh’s cellular phone and concealing proceeds from the robbery.
Turning to mitigating factors, the judge acknowledged Sukhdeo’s age, youthfulness, expression of remorse and cooperation with law enforcement following his arrest. However, he ruled that those considerations could not dilute the seriousness of the offence or the degree of violence inflicted upon the victim.
“The mitigating factors could not dilute the context of his criminality and the degree of the blunt force trauma to the head,” Justice Kissoon said before sentencing Sukhdeo to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
During a plea in mitigation, defence counsel urged the court to temper justice with mercy, arguing that Sukhdeo was only 26 years old at the time of the offence, had no previous convictions and had served both as a presidential guard and later as a Special Branch officer.
The defence also requested that time already spent in custody be deducted and that Sukhdeo receive the one-third reduction available in light of his guilty plea and favourable reports.
Counsel further told the court that Sukhdeo had family members waiting to support him upon his eventual release.
Addressing the court, Sukhdeo apologised to Singh’s family.
Standing in the prisoner’s dock, he said he appeared before the court with “a broken heart” and begged Singh’s parents for forgiveness.
“He was like a brother to me,” Sukhdeo said.
Earlier, the court heard moving victim impact statements from Singh’s parents.
His mother, Kissoondial Singh, described her son as “a loving brother, cousin, nephew, grandchild, and a cherished member of the community.”
“He was a young man with dreams, talents, and a bright future ahead of him. His murder has left a permanent void in our lives that can never be filled. The pain of losing him is something that my family and I will carry for the rest of our lives,”
She urged the judge to consider the profound and lifelong impact the murder had inflicted on the family.
Singh’s father, Shivnarine Singh’s statement read in court depicted the devastating emotional toll of losing his son.
“I have cried more than I ever have in my entire life. There are days when I feel numb and empty, and there are other days when the pain is so overwhelming that I can barely function,” he said.
He added that every family gathering, festival, birthday and special occasion now serves as a painful reminder of his son’s absence.
Leading the prosecution, State Counsel Latchmie Rahamat urged the court to impose a severe sentence, arguing that the murder involved a calculated abuse of trust for financial gain.
Rahamat submitted that Singh had been entrusted by his father with $8 million to purchase raw gold and was lured to a meeting by Sukhdeo under the pretext of a legitimate business transaction.
She told the court that after the killing, Sukhdeo led investigators to his residence, where police recovered $7.79 million of the stolen money.
The prosecutor also pointed to the violent nature of the attack, the concealment of Singh’s body, and Sukhdeo’s efforts to retain the stolen money while continuing to use the vehicle involved in the crime until his arrest.
Rahamat further argued that Sukhdeo’s status as a former member of the Guyana Police Force aggravated the offence, since he possessed a heightened appreciation of the law and the sanctity of human life but nevertheless exploited the trust placed in him.
She also urged the court to send a strong deterrent message, arguing that members of the public must be able to engage in legitimate commercial transactions without fear of being lured into violent robberies and murdered.
Singh was reported missing on October 24, 2023, after leaving home to purchase raw gold. His body was later discovered inside a house at Middle Road, La Penitence, covered with a sheet and bound with electrical cords after Sukhdeo led investigators to the location.
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