The prosecution yesterday closed its case in the matter against Ravi Mangar and Mark Reid who were arraigned on witness tampering charges in the CN Sharma case.
Detective Inspector of Police Trevor Reid who is attached to the Major Crimes Investigation Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Eve Leary, took the stand and testified.
He was the last of the three witnesses who testified in the matter, bringing the preliminary inquiry (PI) to an end. After giving his evidence-in-chief, he was then cross-examined by attorneys Vic Puran and Mark Waldron who represented Mangar and Reid respectively.
After the hearing which lasted for close to two hours, State appointed prosecutor Sanjeev Datadin told the court that it had called all of its witnesses and as such had brought its case to a close.
Moments later, Puran took to the floor and presented his submissions to the court on behalf of his client. Meantime, Waldron told the court that he will make his submissions on April 20 when the matter will be called again.
On the adjourned date also, the attorneys will be laying over their written submissions to the court.
When the matter was called yesterday, Reid was absent and his attorney requested that the court wait on his client as he was on his way.
Magistrate Geeta Chandan Persid-Edmond who is presiding over the matter, however, told the lawyer that she was inclined to issue a warrant for his client’s arrest since he [Reid] knew that he was required to be at court.
The magistrate, however, granted the lawyer’s request while stating that she would give the defendant five minutes to arrive and if he failed to in the specified time, she would commence without him or adjourn the matter to another date.
Reid walked in smiling some four minutes later and the magistrate demanded an apology and a reason for his lateness.
Reid began speaking about the traffic, unforeseen circumstances and his desire to have been early. But being slow in his explanations, the magistrate asked the accused not to waste her time, after which the PI continued.
The matter against the two accused stem from the alleged carnal knowledge of two females for which Chandra Narine Sharma has been charged.
On April 26, Sharma was charged with attempting to obstruct the course of justice. It is alleged that on April 15, he knowingly attempted to obstruct the course of justice by removing two of the girls at the centre of sex abuse allegations against him from their known address and taking them to a house at 123 Golden Grove, East Bank Demerara in order to prevent them from being questioned by police.
Meanwhile, the commencement of the PI into the matter against jointly-charged Doodnaught Sharma and Raywattie Ramsawack for which they are also charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice was put off for the fourth time.
Their matter also arose out of the alleged carnal knowledge of two females for which Sharma has been charged.
When the matter was called yesterday before Magistrate Persid-Edmond at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, Datadin requested that the PI commence today instead, citing time constraint as a limitation.
The State prosecutor, who is also prosecuting in the Mangar and Reid matter which was also set for yesterday, said that since the PI into this matter was nearing its conclusion and had seen good progress, time should be allotted to it instead and a new date set for the PI involving Doodnaught Sharma and Raywattie Ramsawack.
The request was subsequently granted by the court.
