-court hears
A witness in the trial of two men accused of shooting to death a butcher of Liverpool Village, Corentyne admitted while being re-examined by State Counsel Fabayo Azore that he was scared about the incident and made a second statement naming the accused after they had threatened to kill him.
Samuel Fraser known as ‘Charlie’ and Compton Green called ‘Red Eye’ are on trial at the Berbice Assizes for the murder of 27-year-old butcher Gangaram Busjit who had gone to an outhouse in his yard at Liverpool, Corentyne where he was shot.
He died before receiving medical attention.
In her opening address State Counsel Azore told the twelve-member mixed jury that the quiet morning of October 21, 2006, was disturbed by the sounds of gunshots that rang out in the village of Liverpool, Corentyne, Berbice.
Addressing the jury before Justice Winston Patterson, Senior Counsel Marcel Crawford, who in association with his son Ryan, is defending Fraser and Green, Azore that at about 03:00hrs that morning, screams were heard coming from the Busjit’s residence.
A witness on looking out, Azore said, saw three men standing around Gangaram Busjit called ‘Vicky Busjit’, with guns pointed in Busjit’s direction.
Azore said that while the shooters stood there two additional shots were heard and then the men ran away.
An investigation was launched and a fourth man was charged.
Following a post-mortem examination by Dr V. Brijmohan, the cause of death was recorded as shock and haemorrhage due to gunshot injuries.
Under cross-examination by Senior Counsel Crawford, Eldon Munroe, who had to be upbraided often for speaking in low muffled tones, said that his former employer ‘Kants’ permitted himself and family to reside in the house for which he paid no rent aback the Busjit’s yard.
Among other duties he had to perform was to oversee the deceased’s elderly father, Nally, and to assist Gangaram Busjit called ‘Vicky’ with his butchery.
The witness acknowledged that he did not want to see any harm come to the Busjits whom he came to love.
He confessed that at the time of the incident, Samuel Fraser, who is his cousin, was facing a wounding charge and he was the victim.
Munroe told the court he did not tell his wife, Vicky’s wife or Nally that he saw Samuel Fraser, Samuel Fable and Compton Green shoot Vicky early that morning.
Although he gave the police a statement, a few hours after the incident, the witness agreed that he did not tell investigators the name of the perpetrators.
However, in a second statement given following the arrival of his former boss ‘Kants’ from the United States, Munroe said he was taken to the Central Police Station where he mentioned the names of the accused persons.
The witness agreed that the then Inspector Mc Allister lived about two hundred yards from his home and he had to motor pass police stations at Whim, Rose Hall and Albion before going on to the Central Station in New Amsterdam.
Munroe, a labourer, denied defence counsel’s suggestion that he allowed ‘Kants’ to influence him to make another statement to the police.
He agreed however with the deposition which recorded him telling the magistrate that when the police questioned him he had stated that he did not know anything about the story.
Re-examined by Azore, the witness said he was scared about the incident and for that reason he made the second statement as the accused persons had threatened to kill him.
