Latest update December 22nd, 2024 2:40 AM
Sloppy police work forces court to free murder accused
By Latoya Giles
Justice William Ramlal yet again lashed out at the police for sloppy police work after yet another murder trial ended.
Paul Bagot, who was accused of killing schoolgirl, Abigail Gittens, yesterday walked out of the High Court a free man after Justice Ramlal upheld no case submissions by his lawyers.
Justice Ramlal directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty to murder.
Bagot, who was accused of killing Gittens on September 30, 2004 was represented by attorney at law Hukumchand in association with Sonia Parag and Kamini Parag-Singh.
Abigail Gittens
State Prosecutors Rhondel Weaver and Shivani Balcharan both of the D.P.P. Chambers, had set out to prove that the accused Paul Bagot, called Paul Moore, had on September 30, 2004 murdered Abigail Gittens, a 16-year-old girl.
Bagot’s lawyer argued that the prosecution led poor identification evidence. Hukumchand argued that based on the identification parade led by the prosecution his client could not be identified as the attacker.
The lawyer further argued that the two witnesses testified that the area where the teen’s body was found was poorly lit.
The judge in his address to the court said that the prosecutors are not to be blamed since the police continue to do shoddy work.
Justice Ramlal said that the dying declaration which the victim made only had one name which is not sufficient to get a conviction.
He said that no evidence was really led to say where the incident happened and as such he has to uphold a no case submission.
During the trial a number of witnesses were called including, Ken Isaacs, called George Demonick who admitted that the victim was his girlfriend up until her death.
In his evidence in chief, Demonick told the court that the victim used to visit his home. Demonick said that he knew her for about nine months prior to her death.
He testified that on the day in question he was with friends at his home when a man by the name of ‘King’ called him aside and told him something.
Demonick said that as a consequence of what ‘King’ told him, he left and went to the Front Road, not far from a shop, where he saw a girl leaning on a fence with blood-soaked clothing.
Demonick said that someone shone a torchlight on the person, whom he recognised to be Abigail.
He said that two women on the West Front Road that night had put Abigail in a taxi which left with them for the Georgetown Public Hospital.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mr. Hukumchand, the witness said that he did not tell anyone in the crowd that night that the girl (Abigail) was his girlfriend.
He also answered: “I agree that the girl had a sexual relationship with me and the accused at the same time.”
He also agreed that the girl was ‘horning him’ or giving him ‘blow’.
But, Demonick disagreed with counsel that the ‘horn’ or the ‘blow’ he was getting by the sexual relationship ‘his girl’ was allegedly having with the accused, had affected him.
He denied that he was unhappy with his girlfriend’s behaviour.
The other witness who testified was Mr. Orin Gittens, Abigail Gittens’s father. Orin said that his daughter attended St. Ann’s College. He said, too, that he knew the accused had a relationship with his daughter, since the accused used to visit his home to enquire about Abigail.
The father admitted under cross-examination that his daughter had, before she died, ‘ran away from home’ and that she was charged by the police and placed before the court.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Policy-making by neglect
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The ease with which Bharrat Jagdeo, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party... more
Let the asylum seekers go: a first step for Venezuela to rebuild relations in the Americas
By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News – The government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela has steadfast support from many... more
Weekend Cartoon
