Verdict looms for accused in night club murder

Dec 11, 2019 News

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The prosecution has closed its case in the trial of Shawn Harris who is accused of the February 05, 2017 murder of Sunil Singh who was stabbed to death at the Blue Martini Nightclub on Lamaha, Street in Georgetown.

Singh, also known as ‘Grey’, 42, a homeless man, was killed while trying to prevent a robbery from happening at the nightclub. Reports surrounding the killing indicate that Singh wrestled a bandit and his accomplices to prevent them from carrying out an early morning attack at the night spot. It was then he was repeatedly stabbed about his body.

At the time of the robbery, a police release stated that the three men had visited the club after a police patrol went to enforce the 2am curfew. Singh, after observing the men acting suspiciously outside the night club, alerted a bartender, who refused the men access to the club by telling them it was closed. An altercation ensued between the bartender and one of the men, who stabbed the bartender to his left arm. Singh intervened and was struck to the head.

When the trial continued yesterday, the prosecution, led by State Counsel Shawnette Austin and State Counsel Sarah Martin, presented closing arguments in which they concluded that Harris is guilty of the crime. The prosecution spent much time recapping the evidence of eyewitnesses and CCTV footage obtained from the night club. In fact, in their submissions, the prosecutors argued that Harris stabbed Singh with the intent to kill or cause him serious bodily harm. And to support this contention, the jury was pointed to the fact that Singh was stabbed thrice about his body, with the fatal wound puncturing his lungs. This was supported by the testimony of Government Pathologist Nehaul Singh, who gave the man’s cause of death as perforation of the lungs due to stab wounds.

Harris’s counsel Maxwell McKay also made closing submissions to the jury. Trial Judge Jo Ann Barlow will sum up the evidence in the trial next Monday, December 16 at 10:00hrs, before sending the case to the jury for deliberation on a verdict.

Earlier this week, Police Inspector Prem Narine, one of the investigating ranks in this case, told the jury that Harris admitted to stabbing Sunil Singh.

Inspector Narine told the court that on February 18, 2017, he went to ‘B’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown where he contacted Harris, whom he had known for over a year. According to Inspector Narine, he put a murder allegation to Harris and cautioned him.
He said that Harris then replied, “Sir when I reach the station, I gon tell you wha’ happen.” The police witness told the court that he noticed some wounds on Harris, and instead escorted him to the hospital.

He said that Harris told him that he came about his injuries after falling down a flight of stairs at the Blue Martini Night Club. The police witness said that the murder accused was taken to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary Georgetown, where he agreed to give a statement. Inspector Narine explained that Harris told him it was not a robbery, but a fight, after identifying himself on CCTV footage obtained from the nightclub.

According to Inspector Narine, Harris told him “Yuh see wha’ I tell yuh? Is dem man attack me at the bar and I attack them.”
It was then, Inspector Narine recounted, that the murder accused said that prior to going to the nightclub, he and his friends were drinking at Seeta’s Bar. Harris, Inspector Narine said, told him that when they arrived at the nightclub, there was no one at the door so he and his friends walked in and were attacked by two men, including Singh.

The witness recalled that Harris told him that one of the men, ‘Buck Man’, hit him with a baton. As a result, Inspector Narine said that Harris told him they ended up in a fight during which he pulled out a knife and stabbed Singh and ‘Buck Man’. The murder accused told the police witness that Singh ran out of the nightclub and onto a nearby street. He told detectives that he learnt of Singh’s death the following day.

Also testifying was Police Constable Collis Duke. He told the court that during February 2017, he was stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters and attached to the Crime Laboratory. Duke is a police photographer, fingerprint technician and crime scene photographer.

According to him, on the day in question, he was performing duties when a request was made at the Brickdam Police Station, for ranks to visit the scene of an alleged murder at Blue Martini at Lamaha Street, Georgetown. Constable Duke said he armed himself with a digital camera and headed for the location. Upon arrival there, he said he took several photographs, among them being of the interior and exterior of the Blue Martini Nigh Club.

The police rank also testified to returning to the Crime Laboratory where he printed the photographs. He said that some of them were handed over to another rank for them to be placed in the crime file, while he kept the remainder. Prosecutor Austin’s request for the photographs to be tendered and marked as an exhibit in the trial was accepted by the trial Judge. Thereafter, Constable Duke gave a brief description of what each photograph depicted.

 

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