A single fingerprint on a fan led to the conviction of a St Joseph man who strangled a chartered accountant with the fan’s cord at his home in Buena Vista Gardens, St Joseph, in 2006.
On Thursday, the death sentence was read to Kendell Gomez who was convicted of the murder of chartered accountant Paul Roopsingh by Justice Gail Gonzales at a judge-only trial, held virtually.
Roopsingh was found by a friend who had gone to his home to drop off a newspaper on March 12, 2006. His body was found face down in a pool of blood with both hands bound. The fan cord was wrapped around his neck and there was a stab wound to the right thigh.
The autopsy found Roopsingh died of strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head. A fingerprint taken from the fan by police matched Gomez’s.
Seven of 12 witnesses were called by prosecutors Stacy Laloo-Chung and Indira Chinebas to give evidence at the trial. They included Roopsingh’s cousin, two friends, and police officers who were at the scene and who were involved in the arrest and questioning of Gomez in 2007.
Gomez denied killing Roopsingh but admitted knowing him as he worked for him, cutting his lawn and painting inside the house and the roof. He denied going into Roopsingh’s office where his body was found or the upstairs portion of the house where it was located.
He also denied the record of his interview with police in which he alluded that two other men were the killers who had gone to Roopsingh’s house to rob.
In her written verdict, Gonzales said she found as a fact Gomez lied when he said he never went into Roopsingh’s office and when he said he was with two friends on the morning when the body was found.
She also said she found as a fact it was Gomez’s fingerprint on the fan attached to the cord used to strangle Roopsingh.
Gonzales said she drew no adverse inference from Gomez’s failure to testify at the trial since he had nothing to prove.
“The case against Gomez is based purely on circumstantial evidence,” the judge said. “Am I satisfied that I am sure Gomez murdered the deceased?”
She said, “Circumstantial evidence is evidence of facts, which when standing alone or by itself cannot prove guilt.
“However, when all the evidence is taken together, it leads to the inescapable conclusion that the accused committed the offence in question.”
She said the only logical explanation for his print being on the fan was because he left it there when he used the cord to strangle Roopsingh.
“I was satisfied, so that I was sure, that it was Gomez who strangled the deceased causing his death. I am satisfied that when he strangled the deceased he intended to kill him.”
While noting she could not find him guilty simply because he told a deliberate lie about who he was with on the morning the body was found, she said she was “sure that Gomez did not lie for an innocent reason.”
“Gomez specifically and deliberately, by his lie, insinuated that (name called) had something
