CCJ to rule on appeal in Neesa Gopaul murder case on Friday

Aug 18, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Caribbean Court of Justice is set to rule on its review of the Neesa Gopaul trial on Friday.

Murdered: Neesa Gopaul.

The Neesa Gopaul case had gripped the nation in March of 2015, when her mother, Bibi Shareema Gopaul, and her stepfather, Jarvis ‘Barry’ Small, were sentenced for her gruesome murder. In October, 2010, Gopaul, 15, a student of Queen’s College was reported missing from her Leonora, West Coast Demerara home. Her disappearance took a sudden twist when a partially decomposed body was found in a suitcase submerged in the Madewini Creek on the Soesdyke/Linden Highway – attached to the suitcase were two dumbbells and a red rope which was purportedly used to anchor the suitcase and keep it submerged.

A passport was also discovered in the suitcase and an investigation later confirmed that the passport and the decomposed remains were that of Neesa Gopaul. A subsequent probe led to the arrest of her mother and stepfather.

Following a joint trial in the High Court before Justice Navindra Singh, Bibi Shareema and Small were convicted. They were sentenced to 106 years and 96 years in prison respectively. However, an appeal to the Court of Appeal in Guyana saw the duo’s sentence being reduced to 45 years each. Not satisfied with the deduction, the two moved to the CCJ in hopes that the court will overturn the conviction and sentence and set them free.

Their appeal has since been heard by (CCJ) with defence attorneys representing the duo convicted of murder raising contentions over what they believe to be prejudicial evidence used in their High Court trial.

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