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Corentyne man freed of murder in shooting death
Attorneys-at-law Ryan Crawford (L) and Chandra Sohan (R) with Suresh Sakawat
A 31-year-old labourer was yesterday freed after a jury returned with a unanimous verdict of not guilty of murder.
Suresh Sakawat called “Vishal” of Clifton, Port Mourant, Corentyne, Berbice, was on trial before Justice Jo Ann Barlow and a mixed Jury in the Berbice High Court. He had been accused of fatally shooting Sasenarine Baljit on 2nd June 2015 at Expectation, Port Mourant Backdam.
The state’s case was presented by Attorney-at-law, Mandel Moore. Attorneys-a-law Ryan Crawford and Chandra Sohan appeared for Sakawat.
Baljit’s bullet-riddled body was found some three days after the incident in a trench in the backlands of Tain Settlement, Corentyne. The body bore several shotgun injuries to the back.
Sakawat was reportedly held some days after the incident at his brother-in-law’s residence.
Baljit was reportedly shot at a camp at Port Mourant backdam. Sakawat was also charged with wounding Navendra Permaul of Port Mourant, during the same shooting incident. That matter was dismissed in the Magistrate’s Court.
When the murder trial continued yesterday, the defence and prosecution submitted their closing arguments. This was after Justice Barlow had overruled the defence’s no case submission and a lengthy voir dire was held.
The defence argued that the prosecution had failed to prove their case. They cited the many inconsistencies in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, which were “very contradictory”. There were various descriptions of the injuries the man received. There was no conclusive evidence if the man died from gunshot injuries or drowning. There was nothing to say when the man died exactly. No murder weapon was produced in court.
The defence also contended that the accused never gave a statement, although one was produced, and when he was taken to the alleged murder scene, he stated something totally different to what was in the statement.
The Prosecution in their submission relied on the evidence that was presented in court.
Justice Barlow took less than one hour to sum up the evidence to the jury. She directed them on the points of law and what they had to look for in the deliberations.
The jury upon retiring also took less than an hour to return with their not guilty verdict.
Testifying during the trial were Detective Sergeant Michael Peters, Detective Sergeant Mark Fraser, the dead man’s sister, Dharmenia Beharry, Detective Constable De Souza, the accused man’s brother-in-law Ramesh Busjit and a villager, Parsram Suraj who told the court that he was the one who took the police to search the ranch when they noticed the body floating in the trench.
Government Pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan testified to performing an autopsy on Baljit‘s body at the Port Mourant Hospital. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition.
He gave the cause of death as shock and haemorrhage and gunshot injuries.
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