Magistrate Priya Beharry on Wednesday remanded to prison Jerome Parkes when he appeared before her to answer to the charge of procuring the murder of Clint and Romeo De Agrella.
Twenty-four-year-old Parkes of Grant Covent Garden, Lower Pomeroon had previously been charged with murdering the De Agrellas but those charges have been dropped. He was not required to plead to the indictable charge of procuring murder.
It is alleged that between March 18 and 23, Parkes procured Sean Belfield and Lloyd Roberts to murder the De Agrellas at Iron Punt, North West District.
Prosecutor Dennise Griffith told the court that the men were murdered between the dates mentioned in the charge and that based on investigations, Parkes was arrested and charged.
She noted that the murder charge that was previously laid against Parkes was withdrawn on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In his submission Parkes’ attorney Vic Puran said his client had not had any brushes with the law prior to this case and the prosecutor had not made any statements that showed his client’s involvement in this case. He said when his client was arrested and taken to the police station he was confronted by the police with Tyronne Da Silva, who is also accused of murdering the De Agrellas, who in a sworn affidavit said there were no witnesses or evidence against Parkes.
Meanwhile, Hukumchand, Da Silva’s attorney confirmed Puran’s statement in court.
Puran further argued that Hukumchand was careful when Da Silva had changed his statements in the affidavit, citing that the changes had been made in the presence of several prison warders. The defence attorney then told the court that in the affidavit Da Silva said that the statements that he had given to the police in the case were not true and that the police had forced him to make the said statements and that he would not be presenting any evidence against anyone involved in the case.
“The police shocked and beat him and forced him to give the statements,” attorney-at-law Glenn Hanoman told the court.
Puran added that another affidavit, this time from the boat builder who had built Parkes boat, had said that Parkes’s boat was not completed during the time the murders allegedly occurred. He said that the affidavit he presented to the court showed that his client’s boat was not a part of the plot to kill the De Agrellas.
Puran then applied for bail for Parkes on the grounds that he would not flee the jurisdiction if released.
He added that after finding out that he was wanted by the police his client could have fled Guyana but his appearance in court was testimony that he would not flee. Puran said too his client is an expectant father and a businessman and that his business was failing because of the charges against him. “We’re grateful that the murder charge was withdrawn and we hope that bail will be granted in this case,” Puran said.
The prosecutor then told the court that from information received Belfield and Roberts had boarded a car and had driven behind a gas station located in Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo where they then embarked a boat that took them to Iron Punt. Belfield and Roberts then allegedly met with other boat men who had kept the De Agrellas hostage. Belfield and Roberts then shot and killed the “cornered” victims with an AK-47.
Griffith also told the court that Belfield and Roberts then handed the man who operated Parkes’s boat a bag with undisclosed contents. She said that Parkes was linked to the case after he was found in possession of some of the items.
The prosecutor then asked that bail be denied on the grounds that investigations have revealed that there has been some amount of witness tampering in the case. “One of the witnesses (Da Silva) is now saying in an affidavit something other than what he told the police,” Griffith argued.
In response, Puran said the prosecution had named several other gas stations but that they were in different districts.
Parkes was ordered to appear in the Mabaruma Magistrate’s Court on November 17.
Roberts and Da Silva who had been charged separately for the murders also appeared in court and were further remanded. They were also ordered to appear in the Mabaruma Magistrate’s Court on November 17.
As had been reported the decomposing remains of the De Agrellas of Grant Strong Hope, Lower Pomeroon River, were found days after they failed to return home. Post-mortem examinations revealed that the men died from multiple gunshot wounds.
In a statement police had said investigations revealed that the victims had left Venezuela and after not returning to Guyana as expected they were reported missing on March 22. It had also said that the bodies were found with gunshot wounds while the men’s boat bore bullet holes. The boat had been recovered without the outboard engine and had been overturned in the Waini River by the occupants of a passing passenger vessel. It was subsequently pulled ashore. Crime Chief Seelall Persaud had told Stabroek News that the men’s murders were drug-related.
Belfield who is also known as ‘Buck up’ and is a former policeman, is still at large. (Ayanna Blair)
