St. John’s Antigua : Whether he was greeted by a wife with open arms, crying relatives or not greeted at all, convicted killer Ronald Gederon is back in his homeland Trinidad & Tobago, a day after he got an early release from jail.
The 51-year-old pilot left Antigua on LIAT flight 309 which took off at approximately 5:30 pm yesterday — a flight he once operated.
Gederon, who served 18 years on a manslaughter conviction for the strangulation of fiancée Monique Gordon, was escorted to the plane by police and immigration officers carrying out the order for his deportation.
He walked out the High Court a free man on Thursday after High Court Justice Mario Michel ordered him released 11 months before the time prison authorities calculated.
Many have already condemned the move by the Court, but former prison boss Eric Henry, who interacted with Gederon for several years, said he believes the convict is fully rehabilitated and ready for re-integration into society.
“I personally find no fault in his release. He was a helpful, obedient model prisoner for years. I cannot blame relatives for being angry and hurt because they’ve lost a loved one but we cannot also ignore the convicted person,” Henry said.
Already anticipating responses disagreeing with his remarks Henry added, “I am looking at the matter not in a myopic view but from all sides and with all things considered. I think it was time.”
Henry recalled Gederon helped guide other prisoners and he said he “born again” and preached inside the prison.
The trained lawyer said he believed Gederon’s actions while in prison were genuine as he kept it up for years.
“I don’t think he could have kept up such a facade for so long. There are those who capitalise on the system or try to do but it is not something one can keep up for so long,” Henry said.
Barring small infractions like having a cellular phone while in prison, Henry said Gederon was “nice and exemplary in his conduct.”
At the same time, he said one thing that worries everyone with the killing was the fact Gederon hid the body near Mount Obama (Boggy Beak area) — a place where it was unlikely to be found for a long time, if at all.
During his trial in 1995, Gederon admitted having a fight with Ramsey and said he held onto her neck for a while to get her off him.
He said when he got up he noticed she was not moving and he became nervous and left the house located at Coolidge, leaving her body there.
He said he drove around a while and then went to Coolidge Police Station but decided to return to the house and remove the body from the scene.
Gederon had told the jury he placed Ramsey’s lifeless body in the trunk of his car and drove to Shirley Heights but did not have to courage to execute his plan to drive off the cliff.
Instead he drove around a while longer and later picked out a spot along a trail on the southern side of the island where he dumped the body.
It was he who eventually led police to the body.
Convicted of murder by a jury in the High Court in December 1997, Gederon was sentenced to death
However, 11 months later, the Court of Appeal substituted the murder conviction with manslaughter and sentenced him to 25 years. The court did not indicate whether the 11 months spent awaiting his appeal would have been considered in the sentence; neither did it say whether credit would be given to the year and a half he spent on remand awaiting the High Court trial.
What was certain was that he would be entitled to unconditional release after serving two-thirds of the sentence as indicated in Prison Rule 211.
Consequently, two months ago Gederon applied to the High Court to examine whether his detention was lawful since, according to his calculations the time had expired since September 2008 if one were to count the time from the day he was first remanded.
Prison authorities told the court their calculations commenced from 1997 when the Court of Appeal ruled on the matter — hence, they said Gederon’s release was due in July 2013.
Justice Michel allowed the release on Thursday after he gave the convict credit for the 11 months he spent behind bars awaiting his appeal.
The victim’s sister reacted with surprise at the news of his release and said “The memory is still very, very painful for us today.”
Several people took to the Media Group’s website and Facebook page yesterday to react to the judge’s ruling.
“Wow that is so crazy we have to live with not having Monique any more, just live with the memories a beautiful girl both in and out (who was) always happy and had so much to live for. Where is the justice. I still miss my friend, her smile and the positive person she was. My heart is still breaking …” one person wrote.
Another said, “This is sad. So the law in Antigua is that was you are a nice prisoner you can get out early? So they don’t have the death penalty any more? People should be sentenced to life without … WITHOUT parole … It’s not the first time that someone who created a cold blooded act gets some ‘play play’ sentence …”
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