Three police witnesses testify

Feb 16, 2011 News

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Enterprise taxi driver murder trial…

By Latoya Giles

Three more police witnesses were yesterday called upon to give their evidence in chief as the murder trial for Shawn Richardson continued before Madame Justice Dawn Gregory.
The accused who hails from Bare Roots, East Coast Demerara is accused of killing Enterprise taxi driver Vivekanand Nandalall between October 2003 and March 2004.
State Prosecutors Konyo Sandiford and Judith Ghildarie-Mursalin are presenting the case, while Richardson is being represented by Attorney-at-Law Clarissa Riehl.
Station Sergeant Geoffrey Tate gave evidence about a station diary in which certain information was documented. He was later cross examined by Riehl.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Michael Kingston, who is stationed at the Cove and John Police Station, was next to take the stand.
Kingston recounted that on March 12, 2004, he received information about a skeleton being found in the Bachelor’s Adventure canefields. Kingston said after arriving at the location he observed that the skull had a single bullet hole behind the upper left ear. Thereafter the remains were picked up and taken to the Lyken Funeral Home.
On March 19, 2004, the remains were taken to the Georgetown Mortuary where an examination was done by Government Pathologist Nehaul Singh.
During the examination, the doctor managed to extract a single warhead, which was handed over to Kingston. The officer said he sealed and lodged the article at the Vigilance Police Station. Kingston further told the court that after lodging the article, he visited the father of the deceased, Ramdeo Nandalall.
During this visit he disclosed that he was given an “orange toothbrush” which belonged to the man’s son prior to his disappearance.
He said that the item was initialed by himself along with the victim’s father, placed in an envelope, and also lodged at the station.
Kingston recounted that on March 22, he took the warhead which was retrieved from the skeleton to Eve Leary’s Criminal Investigation Department’s Ballistics section for examination.
He said that one week later, on March 29, he collected two portions of bones and samples of hair which had been removed from the skeleton.
The items, according to Kingston, were given to Assistant Superintendant Greaves for safekeeping.
Kingston related that on April 5, 2004, he uplifted the toothbrush, hair and bones and took the items to the Multi Tech Laboratory, for the samples to be sent to Canada for DNA testing.

Kingston told the court he uplifted the ballistic certificate on April 6. The officer said about three months later he witnessed the burial of the remains.
Attorney Riehl subsequently cross examined the lawman.
The third witness, Police Photographer Osmond Semple, said that he accompanied ASP Kingston to the area where the skeleton was found and took photographs. However he said unfortunately he did not have any of the images because they could not be found after the station was renovated.
On Monday, the first witness to give evidence was Nandalall’s uncle, Heeralall Lismore. The man testified to certain aspects of the kidnapping and the ransom which was paid by the relatives who pooled their monies. He was cross examined by Richardson’s lawyer.
Basmattie Nandalall, one of the victim’s cousins, and Lance Corporal Elroy Masau were also called to testify.
The woman recounted about the last time she saw her cousin alive. She gave the court an outline of his normal routine. She also spoke about the family pooling together their monies in an effort to raise the ransom.
Under cross examination by attorney Riehl, Basmattie Nandalall was asked if she was certain if the skeletal remains that were found, were her cousin’s. The woman replied in the affirmative and stated that the family had done a DNA test on the bones, and it was concluded that the remains were those of her cousin, Vivekanand.
Lance Corporal Elroy Masau spoke about Richardson’s arrest.
Magistrate Brassington Reynolds had freed Richardson back in 2007. However, he was rearrested minutes after the decision was handed down.
Richardson, who was picked up during a police raid in Buxton, had first appeared at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court charged with the murder of Nandalall. The taxi driver was   killed some time between October 2003 and March 2004. He was kidnapped in October 2003 while making a pick up in Bachelor’s Adventure. His car was found abandoned on the Annandale Railway Embankment Road. His family was contacted by the kidnappers who demanded ransom of $1 million.
His uncle paid the ransom but he was never freed despite continuous pleas. His kidnappers later murdered him and his skeletal remains were found in the canefield aback of Bare Roots.

On March 12, 2004, a GuySuCo field supervisor found the skeleton, with one bullet hole to the skull, about a mile and a half south of the Bachelor’s Adventure Squatting Area. There was no other evidence than that of a lock of hair on the skull, which indicated that the deceased was of East Indian descent.

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