Latest update March 7th, 2025 7:05 AM
Burnt body behind temple… Bungling cops create confusion in court; furious magistrate delays reading charges
Antonio Balrup (left) and Asif Hamid
Magistrate Rhondell Weever yesterday blasted police ranks for acting as if she was running a ‘cowboy court,’ after a series of errors by investigators forced her to postpone reading charges against two men accused of murdering wholesale vendor Saeed ‘Sayo’ Hamid.
She was also unable to read charges of accessory to murder against the slain man’s son, due to other errors in the case docket.
Antonio Singh Balrup and Satrohan ‘Bluey’ Madray were due to be remanded yesterday on charges of murder, while the slain man’s son, Asif Hamid, who is already incarcerated for another murder, was due to be charged for being an accessory in the slaying of his father.
Police brought the shackled men to the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court, at which Magistrate Weaver is presiding, and it was then that the confusion began.
As the three men were escorted into the courtroom, Satrohan Madray displayed his torso while claiming that he was beaten to “admit to things me nah know about”, while Hamid and Balrup remained silent and entered with their heads bowed.
Court commenced shortly after 09:00 hrs, but police did not present the files for the case until two hours later. This forced Magistrate Weever to adjourn until after lunch.
Satrohan Madray displaying injuries that he allegedly sustained.
Court resumed at 13.00 hrs, but the confusion only escalated.
When the case for the three accused was called, the policeman who had to swear to the information was nowhere in sight. The prosecution then requested a few minutes to locate the rank, but Magistrate Weever, who was clearly annoyed said: “I have been here since nine o’clock and I still have to wait for the officer?”
The rank eventually appeared after some ten minutes.
But then when Magistrate Weever scanned the documents pertaining to Asif Hamid, the accused accessory to murder, she noticed that the charge read “the New Amsterdam Magisterial District”, a district in which she does not have jurisdiction.
She then instructed the detectives present to “go and get it right”.
Some 30 minutes later the police returned with the corrected file and subsequently took Madray and Balrup back up to court, with Asif Hamid remaining in the lock-ups. As she was about to read the charges, she again observed that Hamid’s charge of accessory before the act, indicated that the offence was committed in the New Amsterdam Magisterial District, to which the Magistrate had previously explained she has no jurisdiction over.
In response, Prosecutor Brown stated that the police were still awaiting the DPP for advice on the charge.
By then, Magistrate Weever had apparently had enough.
“What? My patience is running low. You all need to get your act together. You all think this is a cowboy court? Where is the other prisoner?”
She paused for a few minutes to give the police more time to bring Hamid back up to the courtroom.
The magistrate then explained once more that the police have the murder charges and the charge for accessory before the fact for Hamid, on the same docket. She then reiterated that she had no jurisdiction to institute the charge against Hamid, and therefore could not read the charge for the other two accused, unless the corrections were made properly to allow Hamid to be charged separately.
After a few minutes of quiet deliberation between the prosecutor and a detective, the charges were withdrawn.
The two men, Madray and Balrup are expected to face the murder charge today at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court, while Hamid’s fate is yet to be determined until advice is sought.
Satrohan Madray, Antonio Singh Balrup and Asif Hamid are accused of murdering wholesale Crabwood Creek Vendor Saeed Hamid at Bennett Dam, D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice.
Asif Hamid, the slain man’s son, is currently incarcerated for a previous murder.
He is accused of conspiring before the act to murder his father.
Mr. Hamid had disappeared after leaving his home on April 19, 2018.
Detectives arrested Madray and Balrup after allegedly receiving information that implicated them.
While in custody, they reportedly confessed to bludgeoning Hamid to the head and then burning his corpse behind the home and temple of Madray at D’Edward village.
Madray reportedly told cops that he conspired with Asif Hamid, his close friend, to murder the vendor to prevent him from providing evidence against his son in his upcoming High Court trial.
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