A 41-year-old rapist is hospitalised after being stabbed by fellow inmates at the Carrera Island Prison early yesterday morning. Ramjit Bachan, formerly of California, was stabbed several times in the neck and back and is warded at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital in a critical condition. Police said around 4.30 am yesterday, Bachan, who was serving a life sentence for rape, buggery and sexual assault, was attacked in his cell by some of his cellmates who had makeshift weapons.
Investigators said prison officers responded to the commotion and removed the bloodied Bachan from the cell. Sgt Grant and Cpl Gibbons of the Western Division Police were summoned and interviewed some of the prisoners and the guards who had been on duty at the time. The cell and prisoners were searched but no weapons were found. In April 2006, Bachan, a labourer, was convicted by a nine-member jury in the San Fernando Assizes of the rape, buggery and grievous sexual assault of a 22-year-old KFC worker.
Justice Devan Rampersad sentenced Bachan to life in prison and said he should not be released until he had served 20 years. On December 14, 2001, Bachan pretended to be a PH taxi-driver and picked up the victim at a taxi stand in Couva. He drove to a nearby canefield where he attacked her and then dropped her off at a construction site. Investigations are continuing into the stabbing.