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Convicted felon found guilty of murder
Shawn Harris, 31, who already has two convictions to his name, was yesterday found guilty by a jury of murdering a homeless man. Harris, who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Maxwell McKay, had initially pleaded not guilty to the charge which alleged that on February 05, 2017, in the county of Demerara, he murdered 42-year-old Sunil Singh, also known as ‘Grey’.
Guilty of murder: Shawn Harris
Singh was killed while trying to prevent a robbery from happening at the Blue Martini Night Club on Lamaha Street, Georgetown. 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.
Following the jury’s verdict, McKay begged the court for leniency. The lawyer submitted that with the right programmes his client can be rehabilitated. The prosecution, led by lawyers Shawnette Austin and Sarah Martin, said that based on prison records, this would be Harris’s third conviction. He had spent almost three years on remand pending trial.
During the trial, the prosecution led compelling evidence against Harris. The prosecution had relied heavily on CCTV footage obtained from the nightclub. In the footage, according to the prosecution, Harris was seen stabbing away on Singh. The prosecutors argued that Harris stabbed Singh with the intent to kill or cause him serious bodily harm. To support this, was the evidence of Government Pathologist Nehaul Singh who testified that Singh was stabbed three times.
The doctor gave the cause of death as perforation of the lungs.
Police Inspector Prem Narine testified that Harris admitted to stabbing 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 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.
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