“Should someone who try to murder me by throwing acid on me, beating me in meh head with a hammer and when de hammer bruk hitting me in me head with a beer bottle, should he get bail?” Vickey Navindra Lall asked yesterday at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Lall, who was doused with a corrosive substance in October, asked the question after the lawyer for 26-year-old Navindra Anand Dinoo, who was charged with attempted murder, requested bail for his client.
Dinoo of 154 Shell Road, Kitty who was not required to plead to the indictable charge of attempted murder when Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson read it to him, was subsequently granted $300,000 bail.
It is alleged that on October 11, Dinoo attempted to murder his brother-in-law, Lall, by throwing a corrosive substance on his face.
Dinoo’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Bernard Dos Santos said it was the first time in his career he was hearing an attempted murder charge being placed in such circumstances. According to him, from information gathered, the situation stemmed from a gold chain that went missing. He explained that Dinoo was a jeweller and prior to the incident a gold chain that he was fixing for a client went missing from the storage area. Dos Santos claimed that Lall and Dinoo’s nephew were the only ones other than Dinoo who knew that storage area. He said Dinoo enquired about the missing chain and some time later Lall’s father returned the chain to his client. The attorney went on to say that on the day in question both Dinoo and Lall were drinking but because of the chain incident their relationship was a bit strained. He claimed that Lall had started an argument with his client and that the situation got out of hand resulting in both of them sustaining injuries.
However, Lall, who was also present in court, said that on day in question his sister (Dinoo’s wife) had called him and informed him that Dinoo had dealt her several blows about her body. He said he went over to their house to make peace but he and Dinoo got into an argument. He said when they finally stopped quarrelling, Dinoo went upstairs while he went and sat in a chair in front of his neighbour’s house. He said that a half an hour later Dinoo went to the spot where he and his friend were drinking and threw a cup containing acid on his face. He said that when he fell to the ground Dinoo took a hammer and dealt him several blows to his head. When the hammer broke, Lall said, Dinoo grabbed a beer bottle and smacked him several times to his head before fleeing the area.
Dos Santos then produced a document, which he said stated that as a result of the incident Lall had chopped his client “deep” to his right arm with a cutlass.
However, Prosecutor Denise Griffith said that from information gathered, at no time did Lall inflict any wounds on Dinoo and several witnesses can attest to that. The prosecutor went on to say that shortly after the incident Dinoo disappeared and that it was only on Christmas Day that he was found and arrested. She said that Dinoo’s true address was still not clear.
Dos Santos then stated that the address Dinoo had given the police was his mother’s because that was the place where he was arrested. He also stated that Dinoo was currently looking for a place to relocate since he currently lives two houses away from Lall. He also said that Dinoo had not disappeared but that “he was a frightened young man” who had defended himself.
The magistrate subsequently granted Dinoo bail in the sum of $300, 000 and ordered that he return to court on February 10.
