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‘Black Salim’ charged with cop’s murder
Berbice businessman Salim Bacchus called ‘Black Salim’ was yesterday remanded to prison after being charged with murder. The charge came two days after the man turned himself over to the police, and a week after a wanted bulletin was issued for him.
Bacchus of 39 Line Path ‘D’, Corriverton, Corentyne, made his appearance at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo. It is alleged that on September 14, 2012, he killed Police Constable 20682 Jirbahan Dianand. The charge is indictable and the accused was not required to enter a plea.
Murder accused Salim Bacchus
The case for the prosecution as presented by Prosecutor Corporal Orin Joseph was that sometime between the 13th and 14th of September 2012 at Jackson Creek he murdered detective constable Dianand. He is being represented by attorney at law Ramesh Rajkumar.
Bacchus was remanded to prison and will make his next court appearance on December 6. The dead policeman’s father was present in court and told reporters that he is “thankful that justice is being served” for his son’s death.
Detective Dianand’s body was discovered in his motor car, PHH 6528, on the Jackson Creek Public Road by a police patrol attached to Springlands Police Station on Friday, September 14, last. He had two gunshot wounds to his head.
The story came to light when three men were arrested following a carjacking incident at the same Jackson Creek on the Upper Corentyne. Two of them were arrested by the police on the West Coast of Berbice. The men, who are the nephews of Bacchus, implicated another youth and reportedly admitted to the crime, subsequently. After intense grilling by investigators they also allegedly admitted to knowing about the killing of Detective Dianand, in which they implicated Bacchus as the gunman. They reportedly told investigators that Bacchus shot Dianand twice in the head after a pre-arranged deal went sour.
Bacchus was previously charged with possession of narcotics for the purpose of trafficking. He was among four men who had been arrested and charged in connection with a 40-kilogramme cocaine bust in November 2011.
He was acquitted in June, last, but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) had appealed the acquittal.
He was represented then by attorneys at law Glenn Hanoman and Ramesh Rajkumar. Magistrate Fabayo Azore sitting at the Whim Magistrate’s Court had upheld no case submissions made by the defence.
The three other men – Canadian resident Narayan Jarbandhan, Gary Belgrave, and Leo Hernandez – all pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and were subsequently released. The DPP had ordered that they be recharged. However, only Jarbandhan has been arrested and is on trial at the Whim Magistrate’s Court. He is being represented by Rajkumar. The other men are still at large.
Bacchus is the brother of Azad Bacchus also known as ‘AK 472 , who was killed in a shootout with the Berbice Anti-Smuggling Squad (BASS) in 2001.
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