-judge criticises police investigation
Hafeez Khan, who had been accused of murdering his friend Anthony ‘Pumpkin’ Waldron, was found not guilty yesterday.
During a ruling in which he upheld no case submissions by the defence, Justice William Ramlal stated that the prosecution’s case was “very weak and tenuous” before directing the jury to return a not guilty verdict in the trial. The no case submission was made by defence attorney Khemraj Ramjattan on Thursday. The trial was the second case at the Demerara Assizes this week in which the accused has been freed following no case submissions being upheld because of insufficient or weak evidence. Trion Sumner and Quincie McLennon were freed of Odingo Dunham’s murder under similar circumstances by Justice Roxanne George.
“There is no direct evidence,” Justice Ramlal said during his ruling yesterday, “implicating the accused in the infliction of an injury on ‘Pumpkin.’ As a matter of fact, this was conceded by the prosecution.” The prosecution, according to the judge, only led circumstantial evidence in this regard.
It had been alleged that on February 22, 2004 Khan murdered Waldron at Vreed-en-hoop, West Coast Demerara. The deceased, Khan, Omar Singh and Rondon Lyte were at the house of a friend, Joycelyn Willis. The group had been consuming alcohol all night before the incident and continued doing so until the time when the incident reportedly occurred.
While drinking, an argument about who had “the sweeter leg” erupted between Khan and Waldron. Lyte testified that Khan then left the group and went to Willis’ kitchen, returned with a knife and started “fanning it” in Waldron’s face. Willis was immediately informed of what was happening and took the knife from Khan. Lyte subsequently left the men and went to use and latrine. He spent five to 10 minutes in the latrine and while returning to the house he saw Khan and Waldron “fighting.” However, by the time he got to the kitchen the men were no longer there (in the kitchen). Lyte subsequently discovered Khan outside the house holding Waldron.
During cross examination, Lyte, supporting his testimony in the Magistrates’ Court during the
preliminary inquiry, said that Khan and the deceased always made those sorts of “jokes” and the men would never fight. Khan and Waldron, he said, were not really fighting, but were “fooling” around, “making play.” The prosecution, the judge pointed out, never established whether what was seen by Lyte in the kitchen was a fight in the literal meaning of the word.
Based on Lyte’s testimony, there was no aggression involved in Khan’s action towards Waldron and the prosecution, according to Justice Ramlal, did not establish evidence to the contrary. Lyte could not remember for how long he saw the men fighting nor did he see Waldron being wounded. What transpired while Lyte was in the latrine is still a mystery.
Therefore, whatever transpired to cause Waldron to sustain a fatal wound could have possibly occurred during the five to 10 minutes it took Lyte to return to the house. Lyte did not know what happened during this time and could not say if anyone else came in or out of the house during his absence. Further, the prosecution’s evidence did not establish that Khan intended to kill or inflict grievous bodily harm to Waldron nor was his conduct found to be reckless.
After listing several other shortcomings in the case’s evidence, Justice Ramlal said: “The prosecution’s evidence is very weak and tenuous…I uphold the no case submission.” He then ordered the jury to return the not guilty verdicts before briefly addressing Khan.
The evidence, Justice Ramlal told Khan after he was freed, seems to suggest that he was under the influence of alcohol and had been consuming it all night up to the time of the incident. “You’re going to have to change your lifestyle,” the judge urged Khan, “You need to make some serious changes…your life is not only about consuming alcohol.”
A court, Justice Ramlal continued to explain, can only act on the evidence before it. “In this case,” he continued addressing Khan, “I do not think the police did a good job investigating this case…there were errors from the beginning.” Justice Ramlal said that it was not the fault of State Prosecutor Prathima Kissoon and her team that they were handed a file of a case which was poorly investigated. “I am sure you know more than what is in that file,” he told Khan.
The police did not get a fingerprint from the scissors which was established to be the murder weapon, the judge noted. Khan has also allegedly confessed in a caution statement to police but it was later established that the statement had been taken contrary to the laws and could not be entered as evidence. “All of these factors,” Justice Ramlal said, “contributes to you [Khan] walking out from this court freely today. I urge you to make peace…and change your lifestyle.”
Walking away from a fight, Justice Ramlal said, is an action which takes great strength. He urged Khan to stay away from such things or he may very well find himself in the hands of police again and at the mercy of the law. “Don’t trade words with anyone,” the judge advised. “Walk away…words when used in certain situations in our society often breed violence.”