Lance Corporal Jermaine Laundry was yesterday cross-examined in the witness box by Attorney-at-law Vic Puran as the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the murder of schoolgirl Neesa Gopaul continued.
Laundry has completed giving his evidence in chief to the court.
Laundry is attached to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Alberttown Police Station.
The case will be called again on May 23 for continuation of the PI.
Neesa’s mother, Bibi Sharima Gopaul and her lover Jarvis Small were charged with the teen’s murder.
The allegation is that between September 24 and October 2 at Madewini, Linden-Soesdyke Highway, Bibi Sharima Gopaul and Small, both of 13 Public Road Leonora, West Coast Demerara, murdered Neesa Lalita Gopaul.
The teenager’s body was stuffed into a suitcase, which was discovered by a group of picnickers on October 2 anchored in the creek at the Emerald Tower Resort. Her head was bashed in so that her remains appeared headless.
A woman who made the discovery said that a large piece of metal was removed from the creek by the police the following day. Investigators subsequently returned to the scene and discovered several dumbbells which were also used to anchor the suitcase to the bottom of the creek.
The case has evoked widespread public outrage and condemnation of those who failed to assist the teenager during a difficult period of abuse in varying forms prior to her death.
