Latest update January 3rd, 2025 12:02 AM
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Accused in ‘Georgie Berlin’ murder walks free
The death of George Barton, popularly known as ‘Georgie Berlin’ was added to the list of unsolved murders when Magistrate Susanna Lovell upheld no case submissions by attorney at law Basil Williams and discharged the accused, Aman Lallchand called Randy Persaud.
George Barton aka ‘Georgie Berlin’
Lallchand was charged with the March 20, 2008 killing of Barton who was gunned down on Laing Avenue while on a bicycle with his daughter.
It was alleged that on that day, Holy Thursday, George Barton, 48, of 34 Howes Street, Charlestown, was shot dead – a single bullet to the neck – reportedly by gunmen in a white car.
The incident occurred minutes after security chiefs from several Caribbean countries concluded a special meeting on crime in Guyana.
Barton’s 18-year-old daughter who was with him at the time was wounded in the right foot as the gunmen opened fire indiscriminately after shooting Barton.
She had given police a statement in which she alleged that she could identify one of the shooters.
An identification parade was held and Lallchand was identified by Barton’s daughter as one of the men involved in the shooting of her father.
Lallchand was subsequently charged and made his first appearance before Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle on May 22, 2008.
A Preliminary Inquiry was subsequently conducted by Magistrate Hazel Octive-Hamilton and after 14 months it was aborted.
Another Preliminary Inquiry was held before Her Worship Susanna Lovell in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, and at the end of the prosecution’s case, a submission of no case to answer was made by attorney at law, Basil Williams, counsel for the accused.
Williams submitted that the identification parade from which the accused was allegedly picked out from among 11 persons was flawed and was a farce.
The attorney argued that there was no evidential basis upon which the identification parade could have been composed.
Barton’s daughter had expressed fear for her life and reportedly was reluctant to testify in the matter although she was the prosecution’s star witness.
Aman Lallchand called Randy Persaud
“There was no evidence given that a witness saw the murderer on the night in question shooting ‘Berlin’, and gave a description to the police as to what he looked like,” the attorney stated.
Williams went on to point out that the police identification forms did not state the ethnicity, complexion, height, size and/or hairstyle of the men on parade.
He reasoned that it was therefore anybody’s guess as to how the police determined who should comprise the parade.
He added that there was no other evidence adduced against the accused.
After listening to the argument, the magistrate upheld the no case submission and discharged him.
Police had said that Barton was a known character, having been arrested on several occasions for armed robbery and murder.
Barton was charged for the murder of a La Penitence resident, Troy Gomes, who was shot dead near the Ruimveldt Police Station in 2005. He had also escaped an attempt on his life when some men in a car shot at him while he was on Sussex Street.
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