Chief Justice grants bail to murder accused

May 20, 2008 News

After eight years of legal hurdles, a man facing two counts of murder for the death of a father and son was yesterday released on bail in a historic ruling made by Chief Justice Ian Chang.
The successful motion was filed by attorney-at-law Sandil Kissoon on behalf of murder accused Hemchand Persaud.

Persaud was charged along with Rohan Singh for the April 2, 2000 murder of James Sancharran and six-year-old Afraz Khan, called ‘Sanjay’.

Sancharran, called ‘Black James’, was stabbed and his son placed on top of him and shot in the forehead at a secluded area at Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara. The bodies were then burnt.

Former Appellate Judge Claudette Singh, on September 26th, 2006, had sentenced Rohan Singh, 45, to 36 years’ imprisonment for the two murders.

Since his co-accused pleaded guilty, a new trial was ordered for Persaud.

Kissoon had moved to have the indictments quashed, since Persaud had already faced three preliminary inquiries.

Acting Chief Justice Chang, who was then Justice of Appeal, had quashed the two murder committals against Persaud.

He had ruled that both murder indictments could not be heard together in one sitting.
However, the murder charge still stood, and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was preparing to conduct a fourth preliminary inquiry (PI).

Kissoon again moved to the courts on the ground that Persaud’s fundamental rights had been infringed, since he was entitled to a speedy trial.

According to the attorney, Persaud spent eight years in jail and was still to witness the fourth PI against him.
He lamented that the court was in breach of Article 144 (1) of the Constitution, which guarantees an accused the right to trial within a reasonable time.

In making the historic ruling, Justice Chang found that the delay was an error on the prosecution’s part and Persaud should not have been made to suffer for it.

In the interest of justice, Justice Chang said, he would not order a complete halt to legal proceedings against Persaud.

However, he noted that Article 139 of the Constitution provides for bail, and extends such pre-trial liberties even to persons facing murder charges.

Justice Chang stressed that Article 153 provided him with the discretion to safeguard the fundamental rights of an accused.

As such, he ordered that Persaud be allowed on $200,000 bail on condition that he reports to the Cove and John Police Station each week.

Justice Chang also ordered that the fourth PI must commence within 21 days of the ruling.
He added that the bail is applicable throughout any legal proceedings against Persaud, including in the event of a possible High Court trial.

At Singh’s trial, his attorney claimed he had gone with three friends to cut bamboo when one of them pulled out a gun.

“He sey he lend Black James a gun and he going fuh collect it. He sey if he ent want give it up he gon gat fuh kill,” Singh said.

As they continued upriver, the men soon spotted Sancharran and his son on a dam, and demanded an explanation about the location of the gun.

Singh identified Sancharran’s attacker as ‘Convict’, whom he said fired a chop which caught him (Singh) on the shoulder.
“I tell he lef’ de man, but Convict pull out a knife and stab he in he chest…then he shoot he,” Singh related.
He added that Sancharran’s body was then placed in the boat and he and his friend were instructed to lie flat.
According to Singh, it was ‘Convict’ who killed the child, and his (Singh’s) accomplice who struck the match which burnt the bodies.

Singh claimed he had passed the information to the Police, who never brought the men to justice.