Matters in which persons were jointly charged for murder

Oct 24, 2021 News

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By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Murder is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human being by another. Today, I will highlight some matters where persons were jointly charged for murder.The Murder of Keron McPherson
Back in August, Brenna Nurse and three of her son’s friends, Devon Harry, Nicholas Hercules aka “Bucko,” and Peter Lam were jointly charged for murder. They had appeared in the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court before Magistrate, Alisha George. The defendants were not required to plead to the indictable charge, which alleges that they killed Keron McPherson, 24, of ‘D’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown.

According to reports, McPherson was killed from a gunshot wound to his abdomen sometime between 23:50hrs on Saturday August 14 and 04:00hrs on Sunday August 15, last. Nurse, his mother-in-law, and the three men made their first court appearance on August 23, 2021, and they were all remanded to prison. According to reports, it is believed that Nurse along with her three co-accused had conspired to murder McPherson.
McPherson was reportedly lured to his death by a phone call. His relatives had told Kaieteur News that McPherson’s girlfriend, Nurse’s daughter, had called him close to midnight on Saturday August 14. They claimed that he was reluctant to go at first but she kept calling him and McPherson eventually heeded and left home to meet her.
He never returned and around 04:00hrs, the following morning his body was discovered lying in a yard at ‘C’ Field Sophia with gunshot wounds.
It is alleged that McPherson was killed in retaliation to an altercation he had with Nurse and the three men during the early evening hours of Saturday. According to reports, he had gotten into a heated argument with his girlfriend over money, which she had squandered and this led to an argument between him and Nurse. The argument turned physical between him, his mother-in-law and the three men. This reportedly led to him being killed.

The Henry boys’ murder
Following the discovery of the mutilated bodies of the Henry cousins, Joel and Isaiah, back in September 2020, protest actions were formed and the grandson of one of the men that was initially arrested in relation to the double murder was killed. Following months of no new development in the murders, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was able to charge three men for the capital offence earlier this year after they secured a confession.

Anil Sancharra, 34, called “Dan Pole” and “Rasta,” of D’Edward Village, West Coast Berbice, and Vinod Gopaul, 30, called “Magga,” of Yakasari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne, Berbice, were charged jointly while the third accused was separately charged.In August of this year, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, S.C, re-charged the duo jointly for the murder of both Joel and Isaiah Henry, whose mutilated bodies were discovered in Cotton Tree Village backdam, West Coast Berbice, last year.
This happened about one month after Magistrate, Peter Hugh, discharged Isaiah’s murder matter against Sancharra and Gopaul citing that there was no admissible evidence of murder established against the two-named accused.
Attorney-at-law, Dexter Todd, who is representing the two, had argued that the State had not presented evidence of murder against Gopaul and Sancharra. Magistrate Hugh later ruled in support of Todd’s argument. However, the men had remained on remand pending the outcome of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the murder of Joel Henry, Isaiah’s cousin; the PI into Joel Henry’s death was slated to commence on Tuesday, August 10, 2021.
Following Magistrate Hugh’s decision to discharge Isaiah’s murder against the duo, the DPP had contended that there is sufficient evidence in the case.

The DPP then discontinued Joel’s murder charge against the duo before re-charging them jointly for the murder of both cousins.
Isaiah and Joel were murdered between September 5, 2020 and September 6, 2020. The bodies of the two teens were found dumped in the Cotton Tree backdam last year, and earlier this year, three men were arrested and charged for their murders.

The third accused, Akash Singh, 20, called “Monkey,” a fisherman of Zeelugt Squatting Area, East Bank Essequibo, was charged separately for the murders.According to reports, Singh had implicated his stepbrothers, Gopaul, and Sancharra during his alleged confession to the police. This led to the men being charged.
K/News’ security guards charged with murder
In another matter, the paper committal process for Kaieteur News’ security guards who are charged with murder has commenced in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly.

Jointly charged with murder are Yan Licorish, 49, and Tony Waldron, 39. The security guards are on remand for allegedly killing a homeless man. It was reported that the duo would go through the paper committal process. A paper committal sees the witnesses’ statements and documentary evidence being tendered to the court without the witnesses being present in court. These pieces of information are inventoried and marked as exhibits.
Based on the written records, the Magistrate will take approximately 45 days before giving a ruling on whether there is sufficient evidence for a prima facie case to be made out for the defendants to stand trial in the High Court.
Paper committal is one of two methods that is used by Magistrates for serious offences like murder; the other method is a preliminary inquiry (PI). For most cases, a PI is conducted. For a PI, the witnesses are present in court to give evidence and the documentary evidence is exhibited to the court before being tendered and marked as exhibits.

On their first court appearance in March 2021, Licorish and Waldron were not required to plead to the charge which alleges that between March 15, 2021 and March 16, 2021 at the Kaieteur News’ Saffon Street, Charlestown, Georgetown office, they murdered 58-year-old, Mohabir Singh popularly known as ‘Emile’.
It was reported that around 08:30hrs on March 16, 2021, Singh’s lifeless body was found by an employee under a shed on the Kaieteur News’ premises. The employee had gone to remove a truck when he saw Singh’s body lying in its tray.As a result of the discovery, the matter was reported and the police arrested the two security guards. Both men were subsequently charged with murder. A post-mortem examination had revealed that Singh died as a result of brain haemorrhage due to blunt trauma to the head.
The murder Deon ‘Mow’ Stoll
In October 2019, just two weeks after the brazen killing of prominent gold miner, Deon ‘Mow’ Stoll, eight persons were charged in relation to his murder.

Four were charged with murder while the other four were charged with accessory to murder. The defendants had appeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Charged with murder in the course or furtherance of a robbery committed on Deon Stoll, are Shane “Demon” Morgan called ‘Delon Morgan’, Roberto Sankar, Wayne St. Hill and Steve Rollox.
Odessa St. Hill, called ‘Baby’, Dr. Alanzo De Santos, Duncan Vanvield called ‘Blackboy’ and Keith McKenzie were charged with accessory after the fact.
The brazen attack on Stoll occurred on the morning of October 14, 2019, shortly after 10:00 hrs in front of El Dorado Trading, a gold dealing company.Security videos showed a Toyota 212, later determined to be a vehicle in which Stoll was seated, pulled into the driveway of El Dorado. Another car which was following closely behind had pulled up and two masked men ran out. They converged on Stoll’s car; one to the passenger side where the businessman was seated and the other to the driver’s side.
The driver was seen getting out the car and wrestling with one of the masked men. On the other side, Stoll and the other bandit started to shoot at each other. The gunman was seen falling twice while retreating to the getaway car.

Both he and the other bandit abandoned their attempts. The video later showed the wounded Stoll clutching his side. Police later impounded the alleged getaway car at Peter’s Hall, East Bank Demerara.
The alleged getaway driver, Steve Rollox, was reportedly arrested while gambling at the Princess Casino at Providence, East Bank Demerara. The police had issued wanted bulletins for Lennox Estwick, 23, from Linden and Morgan. Morgan was captured at a roadblock at Cove and John, East Coast of Demerara. He was believed to have been making a dash for neighbouring Suriname.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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