Neesa Gopaul murder trial… Mother said teen became wayward before her death – police witness

Feb 25, 2015 News

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By Rehanna Ramsay
Superintendent of Police, Hugh Jessemy yesterday recalled statements made by murder accused Bibi Sharima Gopaul, in which she said that her daughter Neesa Gopaul had become a wayward teenager, some time before her death.

Jessemy took the stand in the murder trial for which Gopaul and her former lover Jarvis Barry Small are accused of the murder of the 16-year-old Queen’s College student.
The teen was found at a location along the Linden/Soesdyke Highway tucked inside a suitcase which was partially submerged in a creek with the use of a pair of weightlifting dumbbells.
Yesterday, Superintendent Jessemy related to the court that he was stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department, (CID) of the Ruimveldt Police Station in October of 2010 when he assisted a party of officers with the investigations.
He recalled that on October 3, 2010 he went with the officers, along with Mohamed Kayum and Bibi Sharima Gopaul, to the Lyken Funeral Home. Jessemy recalled that the relatives had identified the teen’s body by the clothes she was wearing – “a black tights and a multi-flowered dress.” He noted too that most of the victim’s head was missing.
Jessemy told the court that on October 4, 2010, he accompanied ranks of the Crime Scene Investigation, (CSI) unit to the Lot 13 Leonora Public Road residence of the number two accused.
He recalled that the ranks conducted a search on the premises, during which he saw a bag containing a

kitchen knife in addition to male and female clothing on a table in the upper section of the house.
The witness said that on October 6, 2010, he applied to the court for an extension of time for the two accused persons to be kept in police custody.
The witness said that after the extension was granted, he returned to Ruimveldt Police Station where he contacted Nazar Mohamed Okeeland and Bharrat Narine Samaroo.
Jessemy said that he showed the two men a pair of dumbbells and they told him “something”. As a result of what the men told him, Jessemy said that he instructed them to take the dumbbells to his office; Small was present at his office.
Jessemy said that he subsequently held separate confrontations between Small and the two men during which the accused denied ownership of the exercise equipment. The witness said that he thereafter made a record of the conversation.
In response to questions to Prosecutor Diana Kaulesar, the witness noted that the dumbbells were kept in a cupboard at the station; the cupboard had a padlock and the keys were lodged with the station sergeant.  He recalled that the dumbbells were painted black, red and white.
Jessemy went on to tell the court that he subsequently obtained an ordinary statement from the number two accused Bibi Sharima Gopaul. The officer explained that he did not caution the woman, because he

thought he had no evidence against her.
The witness was thereafter showed a document which he recognized to be the statement which he procured from Gopaul. He read the document aloud to the court.  Gopaul paid keen attention as her statement was read aloud. Small was seen smiling in the direction of the courtroom audience. He fidgeted as he sat in the prisoner’s dock.
The document, which the detective read aloud, was attributed to Gopual as a statement which she gave to the police with regards to the matter.
The document outlined that the woman had been married in 1989 and that she, had two children, Neesa and Miriam Gopaul, with her husband.  The couple had lived at Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara, but after the birth of their daughter Neesa, the family moved to Leonora.
However after several years of marriage, Gopaul related that her husband began suffering from high cholesterol and diabetes. He eventually passed on October 20, 2009.
Before her father passed, the woman said Neesa had become wayward. Gopaul noted that the teenager had started sleeping out and leaving the home without permission. She was not listening to her father either.  She said that the teenager was at the time a Form Two student of Queen’s College.
Gopaul recalled that on September 23, she and her two daughters were at home; they had been in the bedroom of the house watching television.  The accused related that she and her daughters were watching a programme on Channel 72, when she fell asleep.
The woman said that she awoke early the next day and realized that her teenage daughter was not in the house. She said that she searched the house and even in the yard, but she could not find her daughter.  She subsequently lodged a missing person’s report at the Leonora Police Station.
The accused said that on October 3, 2010, Assistant Superintendent of Police, (ASP) Terrance Paul of the said Police Station contacted her and told her that her daughter had been found.
The woman said that she later identified a body to be her daughter Neesa, based on the clothes she was wearing. Gopaul related that she was also shown a black bag, a sheet and a black dress. The woman noted that the sheet might have belonged to her, but she was not familiar with the other two items.
Assistant Superintendent of Police, (ASP) Joel David also testified before the court yesterday.  He recalled that he had joined ASP Caesar at the Ruimveldt Station on October 6, 2010, while he was conducting an interview with Jarvis Small.
The witness told the court that the accused had admitted to ownership of the dumbbells after he was cautioned in relation to the allegation of murder. He related that Small told investigating ranks that he did not murder Neesa Gopaul but he knew who did.
He said that Small further stated that what he had to say would take the investigation in a different direction and that Gopaul would be charged with accessory.
The witness noted however that the accused promised to release the information in the presence of his Lawyer, Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos. The witness related that the accused was given a cellular phone to contact his lawyer but he was unsuccessful in his attempts to do so.
David said that on October 7, 2010, Mr. De Santos went to the Ruimveldt Police Station. The lawyer met with his client in the presence of police officers, but he refused to be a part of the conversation at the station after Small told him that he wanted to relate his story as it related to the death of Neesa Gopaul.
The witness quoted Mr. De Santos as saying “I have given you 45 years of experience and advice. I will not sit in any conversation between you and the police…You see where you are and where your wife is?”
David said that De Santos then left the station, but his words were recorded in the diary by Detective Caesar.
Asked what else he did in relation to the matter, the witness told the court that he took statements from the persons who were said to have fabricated the dumbbells, and witnessed a confrontation between the two accused persons.
Under cross examination by defence counsel, Lyndon Amsterdam, the witness later agreed that he never gave evidence about obtaining statements from anyone with regards to the dumbbells or witnessing the confrontation between the two accused persons.
David also admitted that the pieces of evidence are not contained in his statements.  The attorney then asked the witness whether he had considered those events which were not recorded in his statement as important.
“Yes sir,” David replied, noting that in 2010 he had been a detective in the Guyana Police Force for about 22 years.
“Do you consider yourself to be an experienced policeman?” the lawyer asked.
“Every day you learn something new,” the witness responded as the attorney questioned further about his statement.
Based on the questioning of the defence, David told the court he wrote his statement about four to five days after he witnessed the events.
Asked how he was able to write a statement after that time, the officer said that he had been taking “mental notes.”
Under cross examination by Attorney George Thomas, the witness also admitted he had no information with respect to the relationship between the two accused persons or whether Small had keys to the woman’s home. He also admitted that Gopaul never confessed to killing anyone.
The trial continues today.

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