Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Uncle and nephews freed of Mahaicony murder
Satnarine Jaikaran, called Sato, and his nephews, Neville and Randy Crawford, walked out of the Georgetown Supreme Court as free men yesterday, after Justice William Ramlal upheld a no- case submission presented by their attorneys, Renee Kissoon and Satyesh Kissoon.
On January 29, 2010, news of a murder spread through Little Abary, Mahaicony after 33-year-old Maxwell Watson succumbed to injuries resulting from a family altercation, during which he was brutally chopped and beaten.
Randy Crawford was the first to emerge from the courtroom yesterday
Watson, a labourer, was reportedly stabbed in his chest after he initiated an argument with his relatives, who had been consuming alcohol at his residence in Mahaicony. After the fight, the man who was bleeding profusely from his wounds, collapsed at the side of the road. Watson later succumbed to his injuries.
Subsequent, police investigations led to the arraignment of Jaikaran and his nephews.
Yesterday, before instructing the jury to return a unanimous verdict of not guilty for the three accused, Justice Ramlal delivered a lengthy ruling, in which he outlined a number of discrepancies in the evidence provided by the prosecution witnesses, and the inefficiency of the investigation conducted by the police.
The Judge explained that the evidence which was presented to the Court by the prosecution witnesses were weak, unreliable and flawed in relation to the law and guiding principles regarding such matters. He noted that once again, the investigations conducted by the police have proven to be very, very poor.
“We know that a crime was committed… but the evidence was not forthcoming as to how it was done or who might have committed the act. The evidence provided to the court was in fact questionable …what happened to the body between the time that it was picked up at Mahaicony to the time that the Post Mortem examination was conducted… What is the time of death or where did this man die?”
At this point the jury announced the verdict for the three accused. They were not guilty of the crime. As the verdict was being read the three men stood motionless and expressionless in the docks while the mother of the victim openly wept.
“You are going home today not because you were not involved in the series of events that lead to this man’s death but because the police really messed up in their investigations. There is no doubt in my mind that one or all three of you were involved in the death of Maxwell Watson but it is unfortunate that the police could not get their act together,” Justice Ramlal told the three men standing in the dock.
“In the future keep away from conflict even if you are in the right… get as far away as possible least you end up in the same situation.”
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