Insurance Executive murder …Accused alleges that sodomy lead to murder

Insurance Executive murder …Accused alleges that sodomy lead to murder – Police witness

Jun 18, 2015 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

A caution statement admitted in the murder trial of Clive Knights stated that he had confessed to stabbing

Murder Accused:
Clive Knights

Insurance Executive, Bert Whyte.
Whyte, a former Assistant Company Secretary at Guyana and Trinidad Mutual Life (GTM) Insurance, was murdered on May 14, 2012.
The incident is said to have occurred in the vicinity of Main Street, Georgetown. According to earlier reports, Whyte and Knights, who were said to be friends, were in the vicinity of Main Street, when they ended up in a heated argument that turned into a scuffle. The accused reportedly stabbed Whyte several times before running away.
Whyte, who is said to have close ties to the acting fraternity and to the West Demerara Lions Club, fell a few yards from where the incident occurred, in front of a popular night spot. He was transported to the hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.
Knights was subsequently arrested and charged for the murder. He is facing Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member mixed Jury at the High Court in Georgetown. Yesterday, Knights’ caution statement was read aloud to the court by Detective Constable, Kester Cosbert.
The policeman read the document, in which Knights said that he met Bert Whyte, while they were both employed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). According to the statement the accused related that Whyte had revealed to him that he was a homosexual and expressed a desire to be in a relationship with him. However, Knights declined the offer but decided remain friends with the victim, since

Murdered: Bert Whyte

he believed that his way of life had nothing to do with him.
The statement outlined that some time later both men, left their job at the hospital but they continued to hang out.   On the day of the incident, the accused in his statement, related that he went to a bar with Whyte and they had a few beers.
The accused said that he was tired, intoxicated and must have fallen asleep.
According to the statement, the accused said that he remembered going to Whyte car but he came to by himself, after he felt someone’s finger at his anus. Knights said that he opened his eyes and found Whyte’s head between his legs; he was performing oral sex on him.
The accused, according to the statement, said that he had an ice pick which he said he used to stab Whyte before driving away with his car. He, however, told investigators that he was sorry for what happened since the deceased was his friend.
Prosecutor Judith Gildharie Mursalin called two final witnesses yesterday before indicating to the court that the State had closed its case. The witnesses were Phillip Dundas and Government Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh.
Dundas was a security officer on duty at Palm Court at the time of the stabbing. He recalled that night, that he saw a ‘Negro’ man sitting on a nearby fire hydrant.   The man, the witness said, called out him and requested that he call an ambulance or the hospital. The man then fell from hydrant.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nehaul Singh related that he performed the post mortem examination on Whyte’s body. The doctor told the court that he knew Whyte personally.    He said that Whyte’s body bore two stab wounds to the left chest.
According to Dr Singh, the victim suffered severe internal bleeding before he passed. Singh revealed the cause of death as haemorrhage and shock due to perforation of the heart and lung as well as stab wounds.