Nine-year-old rape/murder trial…‘A time for justice for Sade Stoby’ – Prosecutor tells court

May 13, 2014 News

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The jurors in nine-year-old Sade Stoby rape and murder trial yesterday heard strong arguments about why the two men accused of killing her should be brought to justice for the “heinous” crime.
Senior State Prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin told the court that the case is not about “emotions” but rather about facts.
Charles Cush, 21, and Javon Wharton, 23, are both accused of raping and murdering the nine- year-old back in 2007 at Mocha, East Coast Demerara.
The prosecutor painted a picture to the court of a little girl who was full of life when she was murdered allegedly by Wharton and Cush.
“Sade would have been celebrating her sweet sixteenth birthday this year if she wasn’t robbed of life,” the prosecutor told the jury yesterday.  “Just imagine she was a daughter, niece or any relative of yours; her lifeless battered body just left there,” Mursalin told the court.
The prosecutor said that during the case they drew inferences from actual facts. “They carried her there in the backdam…raped and killed her.” According to the prosecutor, had the two men left little Stoby alive she would have been able to identify her attackers, so they knew she had to be killed.
“If she was left alive, she would have been able to seek medical attention; she would have healed and she would have been able to tell people who did it…so they knew she had to be killed,” Mursalin argued.
She contended that there was no need for eyewitnesses. Prosecutor Mursalin accused the defence of “raising red herrings” to distract the court. She urged the jury to never lose sight of the evidence.
Mursalin argued that it’s a time for justice for Stoby. Her killers should be brought to justice. However, Defence lawyers George Thomas and Raymond Ali argued that there was little or no investigation done by the police.
According to Thomas, no DNA testing was done throughout the investigation. He told the court that the police also didn’t do “alibi testing” for the defendants. Thomas went on to state that the scratches on the penis of the defendants did not mean that they committed murder.
With the closing addresses concluded, Justice Navindra Singh will today “sum up” the evidence and give the jury directions before they go into deliberations.
Last week Justice Singh had overruled no-case submission (arguments that the court has no case against the accused) presented by Attorneys Alli and Thomas
The men were required to lead their own defence.  Javon Wharton denied that he had anything to do with the murder of Stoby. According to Wharton, on the day that Stoby was killed he was at work.
He told the court that he was beaten and forced to give a statement to the police admitting to the crime. He called two witnesses in his defence, his cousin Owen Trim and Jadesh Kumar Ramkissoon, a Sales Manager at Hacks Hollow Blocks.
The first witness, Owen Trim told the court that on November 2, 2007 he and Wharton were working at Hack’s Hallow Blocks at Providence, East Bank Demerara.
Trim said that they worked up until 14:30 hrs and left around 15:30 hrs. According to the witness, he joined a minibus and left Wharton riding on the Mocha main road.
Under cross examination by State Prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin, Trim was asked why he remembered the time on November 2, 2007, specifically. According to the witness, they would normally leave around that time.
Jadesh Kumar Ramkissoon said that he saw Wharton up until 15:30 hrs on November 2, 2007. The witness said that Wharton was paid and that was the last he saw of him.
Under cross examination Ramkissoon said he had about 30 other men working with him. He said that Wharton had only worked with him for about 21 days. Ramkissoon, who was under oath, admitted that he would falsify work documents to show that workers left at 16:00hrs when actually they would leave before.
The other accused, Charles Cush, also denied that he had anything to do with the death of Stoby. He, however, had no witnesses to call on his behalf.
At the opening of the case State Prosecutor, Judith Gildharie Mursalin had detailed that on November 5, 2007, the nine-year-old girl, who had gone missing for three days, was discovered near a ditch a short distance from her Barnwell North, Mocha Arcadia, East Bank Demerara home.
The evidence suggested that the girl had been raped and murdered. After the discovery was made, the child’s alleged killers were identified as Wharton and Cush, two teenagers who lived in her village.
Last Tuesday, General Practitioner Dr. Mohan Persaud read out his finding in relation to medical examinations which he had conducted on Cush and Wharton after they were arrested for their alleged involvement in the rape and murder of Stoby.
Persaud told the court that he found lacerations and abrasions on the private areas of the two boys which suggested their involvement in sexual intercourse, “particularly in a forceful manner”.
Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh also presented his evidence to the court. The Pathologist detailed that the child had died due to asphyxiation from submersion (drowning) compounded by blunt trauma.

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