Robbery/home invasion on land court judge…Defendant tells police he was wrongly identified —Police Corporal testifies

Jan 26, 2016 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

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Damien Millington, one of the five men facing a trial for  robbing and terrorizing land court judge, Nicola Pierre, and her husband Mohamed Chand told police that he was wrongly identified during an identification parade (ID) done at CID headquarters, Eve Leary.
This is according to Police Corporal Munilall Persaud, who testified yesterday, when the trial of the five men accused of the crime continued before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Courts.
Warren Mc Kenzie, 22 of Lot 18 Brutus Street, Agricola; Damien Millington, 22 of Lot 118 Caesar Street, Agricola Nicholas Narine, 18, also of Caesar Street Agricola; Premnauth Samaroo and Anthony David, 28 of 63 Hadfield Street, Stabroek are jointly answering three charges, two for the offence of robbery under-arms committed on Pierre and her husband and another for the offence of discharging a loaded firearm at security guard, Ron Peters.
When Persaud took to the stand, yesterday he told the court that Millington, the number two defendant was contacted by police on July 18, last and informed that he would be placed on an ID parade. He said that the defendant was also told of the reason for him being placed on the parade.

Persaud said that the necessary documents were filled out and he was prepared to be placed on display. The witness said that Chand was contacted via Skype by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Simeon Reid and told that he was going to be viewing an ID parade.
He stated that the ASP informed the victim that the men who robbed him and his wife may or may not be on display.
The witness testified that Millington was holding the number seven on this parade and was later picked out by Chand as one of the men who was part of the robbery. Persaud recalled that ASP Reid then told Millington that he was identified as one of the persons who robbed Chand and his wife.
After hearing this, Persaud told the court that Millington told him and ASP Reid “Is the wrong person you identify.”
Another ID parade was conducted by the same means around 16:20hrs, the same day, the witness recounted. He stated that on this parade the number three defendant, Nicholas Narine was part of a line of 14 men. As with the first parade, Persaud said that Narine was told of the reason for him being on the parade.
On this parade, the individual standing in the number one position was picked out by Chand. That individual turned out to be Narine, according to Persaud. He recalled that the defendant burst into tears after being pointed out.
In court yesterday, the police identified both men- Narine, who had braided hair and was sitting in the prisoners’ dock and Millington, who was clad in a blue long sleeve shirt.
He said that at the conclusion of both ID parades, diary entries were made and the defendants were cautioned.
Cross Examined
Attorney Adrian Thompson, who is representing Narine, cross -examined Corporal Persaud. Thompson asked the witness whether four ID parades were conducted that day and who were the witnesses of the parades.
Persaud informed the court that Nicola Pierre and her husband, Mohamed Chand were the witnesses. He explained that Chand and Pierre did two ID parades each that day.
The witness was however, unable to recall the names of the individuals placed on the parades. But he recalled that Narine’s name was listed on a form that was prepared for one of the ID parades.
Thompson suggested to the witness that Narine and another man by the name of Keon Clarke were suspects on the third and fourth ID parades that were viewed by Chand.  He said that both men, who were suspects at the time, chose their own numbers. On both parades the lawyer noted that Narine held up number one while Clarke held number 7.
The lawyer then asked Persaud, “Did Mr. Chand identify more than one person on the fourth parade?” In response, the witness said that he (Chand) only identified one person.
Although it was his first time doing an ID parade via Skype, the police recalled that he heard the voices of the witnesses clearly.
When Persaud was further cross-examined by Millington, he was accused of giving false information to the court. Millington appeared a little lost for words and had to be guided by the Magistrate with formulating his questions.
Nevertheless, he told the court that he was never holding the number seven on any of the ID parades. Persaud however insisted that this defendant was holding that number.
Millington then told the Magistrate that he was given a C19 form by ASP Reid, after he was not identified by Chand. But Persaud stressed that this was not true and pointed out that Millington was given the form before the commencement of the ID parades.
Thereafter, the other defendants and Prosecutor, Nigel Hughes, declined to ask the witness questions.  This trial was adjourned to today.
Pierre, Chand and Peters have so far positively identified four of the defendants (Samaroo, Millington, Narine and McKenzie) as the ones who were part of the robbery/invasion that occurred on July 9, last in the gated community of Felicity, East Coast Demerara.
Meanwhile, the number five defendant, Warren McKenzie is no longer paralyzed. McKenzie was shot during a confrontation with police at a house in Craig, East Bank Demerara last July. He was bedridden for months after the shootout that claimed the life of wanted man Rolston ‘Sadam’ Morrison. His injuries were so severe that he had to be taken to court on a stretcher.
McKenzie has fully recovered and is moving about unaided.

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