Dole's final walk
By MARK BASSANT
DOLE CHADEE walked to the gallows without any visible sign of emotion. At 6 a.m. yesterday the steel trap doors opened and swallowed him, sychronising almost with the mournful toll of the bells from the nearby Roman Catholic Church. Trinidad's most notorious criminal was dead. His lieutenant Joey Ramiah was executed one hour and 23 minutes later (7.23a.m), with Ramkalawan "Lolly" Singh, another gang member, following at precisely 8.44 a.m. The executions marked the resumption of hangings in Trinidad after five years. The last time capital punishment was carried out was July 13, 1994 when Glen Ashby was hanged for killing a BWIA pilot. Four minutes after Chadee's death, Prison Commissioner Cipirani Baptiste hustled out the Port of Spain State prison and gave an official announcement. "At 6 a.m today Dole Chadee was executed. He will be removed within the hour and we will go on to Joey Ramiah." Bombarded with questions by the local, regional and international media, Baptiste said, Chadee uttered no last words and the hanging went smoothly. He speculated Chadee and the other two might have taken just over a minute to die. A senior prison source who witnessed Chadee's hanging and left the jail just after 6.30 a.m spoke with the Express. Sitting sipping a drink near a shop by the prison, he said it was the fifth hanging he had witnessed in his years working at the prison. "When we went for him (Chadee) just before six o'clock, I told him, well boy, we ready. "He came out of the cell without saying anything. We handcuffed him and he walked calmly to the gallows," said the prison source. Chadee, the man who is reputed to have built a multi-million-dollar empire out of his dealings in illegal drugs and went to his trial in expensive, well-cut suits, went to the gallows dressed in a white vest and a white three-quarter pants. "He was silent as the black hood was placed over his head seconds before his demise, the senior prison officer said. There was no need to place him in a straight-jacket." On Thursday night the source who also worked on Death Row said Chadee was withdrawn and hardly spoke with him. "He only said he would never come to grips that he would be hanged." Ramiah and Singh, whose final motion was heard by the Privy Council just before their executions, had their petitions for a stay of execution dismissed about 5 a.m. local time (10 a.m. London time) by Lords Hoffman, Hobhouse and Sir Andrew Leggatt. The hearing lasted 45 minutes. Ramiah, who also moved calmly toward the gallows, was executed at 7.23 a.m, when Chadee's body was taken down after it was left hanging for an hour to make certain of death. Prison officers said no extra weight was needed for Ramiah's body to help him down the gallows. He was said to have been abnormally thin. After Ramiah's body was left hanging for an hour and Singh had been through seeing Roman Catholic priest Fr Vincent Compton of the RC Presbytery in La Romaine, he went to the hangman's noose. "I said the Rosary with him and then they came for him. I did not observe the execution. He was very serene and did not say anything." Prison sources, however, indicated Singh did not go peacefully contrary to what the media had been told after his execution. He cried and had to be restrained and "practically" dragged to the gallows, it was learned. Post mortems were later done on the men's bodies by Dr Ramnath Chandu Lal who revealed that death was due to hanging. The hangings had been witnessed by the Prison Commissioner, a court marshall, the court registrar along with senior prison officers and some priests. Chadee's common-law wife Chandra said she was not present to witness her husband's post mortem. "I was not there. How could I have been there?" She said, she had lost part of her life and so had her children and was still trying to cope with his death. Chadee and his eight-member gang were all sentenced to hang in September 1996 for murdering Deo, 47, his wife Rookmin, 46, and their children Hamilton, 26, and Monica, 27 at the Williamsville home on January 10, 1994. By Monday nine would have been hanged for the same murders. By this time today the second group of Robin "Coop" Gopaul, Russell "Saroo" Sankerali and Joel "Teddy" Ramsingh would have been executed in that order. With the last group of Clive "Chinee" Thomas, Stephen "Brains" Eversley and Bhagwanden "Rambo" Singh to follow on Monday. Outside the state prison yesterday several curious onlookers, with police patrolling, gathered as the morning wore on. At 11.25 a.m the bodies of Chadee, Ramiah and Singh were transported in a white van to the Golden Grove Arouca prison cemetary for burial. Police had attempted to dupe the media ten minutes earlier by escorting an empty black hearse out of the side entrance of the jail along New Street. "Let's hope they really dead," a woman shouted as the crowd dispersed.
A SUICIDE watch has been instituted on Death Row at the State Prison on Frederick Street following an alleged attempt yesterday by Clive Thomas, a member of the Dole Chadee gang, to kill himself. Thomas was rushed to the Casualty Depart-ment at the Port of Spain General Hospital after he was found in his cell frothing at the mouth and complained of chest and stomach pains. Patients waiting to see a doctor at Casualty were put out by security guards and police as doctors attended to Thomas who is scheduled to hang on Monday. He had reportedly drank a liquid which was not immediately identified. Prison sources suspect he drank a soapy liquid in a ploy to cheat the hangman. After the hour-long examination, however, Thomas was taken back to Death Row. Doctors diagnosed that he was suffering with dehydration, was depressed and had a low blood sugar level. The diagnosis will in no way stop his planned execution, one senior officer said. Thomas, Stephen "Brain" Eversley and Bhagwandeen Singh, will be the last three members of the Dole Chadee gang to hanged on Monday. -Alva Viarruel
DOLE CHADEE, 49, had five convictions. They were: · Larceny of a car for which he was fined $300 or two years in jail on November 17, 1969, at the Tunapuna Magistrates court. The fine was paid. · Assembling to gamble for which he was fined $10 or 14 days in jail on September 11, 1972, at the Tunapuna Magistrates Court. · Possession of marijuana for which he was fined $200 or two months in jail on October 15, 1984, at the Point Fortin Magistrates Court. ·Possession of cocaine for which he was fined $750 or three months in jail on August 7, 1985, at the Chaguanas Magistrates Court. · Murder of four members of the Baboolal family on January 10, 1994 for which he was executed. None of the other killers had any previous convictions. None took the witness stand and therefore did not give their side of the story. Sgt Ruthven Paul charged all the men. He executed a warrant on Chadee at 2.15 a.m. on May 15, 1994 at the Port of Spain Criminal Investigation Department (CID) office. The warrant for Joey Ramiah was executed at 3.45 p.m. on May 14, 1994 at CID office, San Fernando. Paul said Ramiah's response to it was: "I don't know 'bout dem murders". The warrant for Ramkalawan "Lolly" Singh was executed at 4.30 p.m. on May 14, 1994 at the CID office, San Fernando. His response was: "I don't know anything about these people".
FOREIGN JOURNALISTS flocked to the Port of Spain State Prison yesterday as the executions of Dole Chadee, his lieutenant Joey Ramiah and Ramkalawan "Lolly" Singh began at 6 a.m and ended at 8.44 a.m. David Adams of the St Petersburg Times in Florida had touched down on Trinidad soil moments before the executions. Adams said in Florida they did not have hanging but the death penalty was in effect and murderers would usually die by the electric chair. "It's big news all over the world when nine people are hanging for one murder," he said. Mark Fineman of the Los Angeles Times said the death penalty was not in effect in their state but the topic had drawn interest in Los Angeles. A London Times reporter refused to speak with the Express as he tried to dodge questions while on the move. Regional journalist Timothy Slinger from the Daily Nation in Barbados said like Trinidad they had the same law in effect and since the topic was drawing so much interest around the Caribbean, the executions, especially Chadee's, was "big news".
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