PORT-OF-SPAIN– FIVE men have been sentenced to death for the 2005 murder of Dr Edward Khoury.
Justice Malcom Holdip passed the sentence after 8 p.m. on Monday at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain on Shawn James, Caleb Donaldson, Jerome Murray, Terry Moore and Robert Franklyn after they were found guilty by a 12-member jury of the kidnapping and murder of Khoury.
The jury took four-and-a-half hours to deliberate and had come out on at least two occasions to seek further directions from the judge.
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Khoury was taken from his import and distribution business at the Macoya Industrial Estate on September 21, 2005 by four men who entered his premises demanding guns and money.
He was stabbed and taken by the men and two days later his decapitated body was found in an abandoned citrus estate in Caparo, central Trinidad.
The trial lasted just over 13 months and heard evidence that James had confessed to the crime after being arrested.
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James said he helped to plan the kidnapping and deposed of the body after Khoury had died.
He told police that he went to Mosquito Creek in a car that ex-policeman Franklin had rented. He said he carried Khoury’s body there and cut off the head and threw it into the sea.
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James said he then drove to Caparo and dumped the corpse in an abandoned citrus field.
When the five were arrested, traces of Khoury’s blood were found on their shoes and clothing as well as in the trunk of the car that was rented by Franklin.
