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Grieving mom present as… Five committed to High Court trial for British teen’s killing
Killed: Dominic Bernard
The five accused who were charged for the murder of British teenager Dominic Bernard were yesterday committed to stand trial in the Berbice High Court.
After the preliminary inquiry was conducted at the 51 Magistrate Court against the five accused, Magistrate Charlyn Artiga ruled that a prima facie case was made out against Aaron Hing and Stayman George for murder, while for the other three accused, Jamal Sinclair, Krystal Thomas and Symphony Henry, a prima facie case was made out against them for accessory after the fact.
Sinclair, Henry and Thomas were granted bail by the High Court in sum of $300,000 each in 2016 after their Attorney, Nigel Hughes, was successful in securing their pre-trial liberty.
Accused: Aaron Hing (left) and Stayman George
The five persons were initially charged for murder, hence based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, led by special prosecutor Attorney-at-law Laxmi Rahamat, the magistrate would have arrived at her conclusion for the respective committals after Rahamat would have made her submissions.
Upon the conclusion of the ruling, there was a look of relief on the face of Bernard’s mother, while one of the accused (Symphony Henry), when asked if she desired to lead her defence or reserve it for the High Court, broke down in tears and told the court that “I don’t know anything about any murder”. The other four also chose not to lead their defence and reserved same for the high court.
Their matters will be heard at the high court at a date to be determined.
Meanwhile, outside the courtroom, in a brief comment to the media, Bernard’s mother Linda Bernard, told reporters that she was pleased with the outcome to date.
She said, while fighting back tears, in a very sombre tone, “I am relieved… this is a big step forward for justice for my son… and it’s massive. I don’t know what else to say. I am just so pleased, and pleased is such a pathetic word, but I am just really, really relieved… and we will all breathe a sigh of relief that it is going to the High Court and you know something, God is in control”.
According to initial reports, Bernard had arrived in Guyana on October 14, 2015, for a three-week vacation with his God brother, Aaron Hing. He was scheduled to fly back to England on November 5, 2015, but failed to do so.
Also for High Court: Krystal Thomas, Symphony Henry and Jamal Sinclair
It was reported that his father, Andrew Bernard contacted his Godson (Hing) about his son’s whereabouts after he did not return home. However, Hing reportedly told his Godfather that he was unaware that the teen was coming to Guyana. This raised suspicions and the elder Bernard flew to Guyana to locate his eldest child.
Murdered teen’s Mom, Linda Bernard
His visit led to the intensification of the investigations, which later resulted in the discovery of the teenager’s body.
On January 8, 2016, a badly decomposed body, suspected to be that of Bernard, was found in a shallow grave at Nurney, Corentyne, Berbice, by CID ranks from Georgetown and Berbice. They were acting on an anonymous phone call. A ‘Post Mortem’ revealed that he had sustained a fractured skull, as well as a broken neck. DNA test results that came back had showed that the samples that were taken from the badly decomposed body had matched that of Bernard’s father.
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