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7 acquitted of shopkeeper’s murder
Seven persons who were on trial for the September 10, 2013 murder of Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara shopkeeper Zulfikar Namdar, were acquitted yesterday after a jury returned unanimous not guilty verdicts.
Casindra Dorsett
Those found not guilty are Allan Dorsett called ‘Baird’, ‘Fat man’, ‘Allen’ or ‘Dada’; Delwayne Croft; Esan Lawrence called ‘Muscle’; Jermain Williams called ‘Yankee’; Andrew Chandler called ‘Sonic’ or ‘Sowie’; Samuel Bacchus called ‘Kirk’; and Casindra Dorsett, also known as ‘Cassandra Singh-Dorsett’, the wife of Allan Dorsett.
The seven were on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member mixed jury at the High Court in Georgetown. Following the verdicts, Justice Singh informed police ranks to release the handcuffs and shackles from the prisoners before informing them that they were free to go.
Casindra, who wept throughout the proceedings, later told the media that she was feeling happy, yet sad. She explained that it was very hard being in prison for six years for something she did not do. The former murder accused expressed gratitude to Almighty God before walking away with a relative.
According to previous reports, Namdar was shot and killed after heavily armed gunmen intruded his home where he resided with his parents. The gunmen shot at Namdar while he was in the shop he operated, leaving him lying in a pool of blood, before escaping with a large sum of cash and a quantity of jewellery.
Namdar was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was pronounced dead. During the trial, a prison official had testified that Allan Dorsett was previously convicted for robbery-under-arms and was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment.
One of the prosecution’s star witnesses, Nick Skeete, who said that he is a cousin of Allan Dorsett, had told the court that he resided about 200 yards from the Namdars. Skeete, who was deported to Guyana in 2012, fingered the seven accused in the robbery/murder. He too was arrested by police as a suspect in the murder, but was later released.
At the time of his testimony, Skeete said that he was in protective custody. The court heard from Skeete that he came to know Bacchus, Lawrence and Croft through his cousin, Allan. He added that Chandler was a childhood friend of the Namdars.
The others who were freed.
Further, he had told the jurors that on the evening of September 3, 2013, some of the male murder accused bought marijuana from him and smoked it under a tree, from where he overheard them planning to rob the Namdars.
According to him, on the night of September 10, 2013, he saw Croft, who sported dreadlocks, holding a long gun, while the others had smaller firearms. He had said that five minutes after the men left his residence; he heard gunshots and later learnt that Namdar was killed.
Disclosing that he was arrested six days later in relation to the crime, Skeete said that police held confrontations between him, Croft, Dorsett and Chandler, who all denied involvement in the robbery/murder.
Previously, the parents of the deceased were among the witnesses called by the prosecution. During her time in the witness box, Namdar’s mother emotionally recounted that he was her only child. The mother also recounted how gunmen stormed her home and gun-butted her, before she found her son lying in a pool of blood inside the shop.
From right: Allan Dorsett, Andrew Chandler and another of the accused who were acquitted.
As for the father of the deceased, he had told the court that on the night of the attack, he went to use the bathroom after which he heard loud gunshots coming from outside. Further, the father told the court how he hid in a bedroom from where he heard one of the gunmen conversing with his wife.
Both of them testified that they could not recognize any of the men who invaded their home, since their faces were covered. In court, both parents pointed out Chandler, whom they testified to knowing for decades.
Attorneys-at-law Nigel Hughes and Ashley Henry appeared for Allan Dorsett. Attorney-at-law Adrian Thompson appeared for Lawrence, Croft and Casindra Dorsett, while Attorney-at-law George Thomas represented Williams, Chandler and Bacchus.
State Counsel Tuanna Harding, Abigail Gibbs and Tariq Mohamed presented the case for the prosecution.
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