The final witness who was expected to testify in the Cyon Collier murder trial failed to appear yesterday and Defence Counsel Lyndon Amsterdam made a no-case submission, but this was overruled by Justice Winston Patterson.
It is alleged that Collier, known as ‘Picture Boy’, murdered Chandrapaul Persaud, 34, called ‘Kero Man,’ on September 30, 2006. Persaud was shot by one of three gunmen who launched an attack on him outside his Non Pareil, East Coast Demerara home, moments after he drove his vehicle into the yard.
After a four-hour no-case submission by Amsterdam and a one-and-a-half-hour response by State Prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin, Justice Patterson indicated that it was a “neat and proper case to go to the jury” and that there was nothing that merited the case being discontinued. He further stated that he would not disrupt the functioning of the jury and subsequently called on the accused to lead his defence, which is expected to be done today.
Yesterday, after an estimated 45 minutes wait, the court was told that Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh was still out of the country, although he had been expected to return on Tuesday last. Gildharie-Mursalin indicated that efforts made to contact the final witness on his cell phone proved to be futile.
Amsterdam then made an application for Segeant Eon Jackson to return to the stand to be further cross-examined as it related to finding the AK-47 assault rifle, the alleged murder weapon. The court was adjourned for another 45 minutes. Addressing Jackson, Amsterdam asked, “When you gave your evidence in relation to this weapon, you described it as a lethal barrelled weapon. What do you mean by that?” Gildharie-Mursalin then rose and stated that the witness was already asked that question and had already explained what was meant in his chief evidence. Amsterdam agreed.
Amsterdam further asked a series of questions, including if the AK-47 can be described as “deadly towards anything in its path” and a very powerful weapon to which Jackson answered in the affirmative. He then asked the witness if he would agree that generally, with guns, the closer to the object the greater the impact/force will be, but Jackson disagreed.
However, when asked if the impact would be the same if a man was shot one yard away and another, 200 yards away, Jackson stated “Yes, there will be a difference”. He further agreed with Amsterdam that distance can play a part when a bullet is discarded.
Jackson was also asked about the result if someone is shot from 6ft – 8ft away to the arm and he explained that one of two things can occur. He stated that the bullet can leave a small entrance wound and a large exit wound or it will lodge in some other part of the hand or body. Amsterdam had no further questions and Gildharie-Mursalin then indicated that the prosecution had closed its case.
Amsterdam’s no-case submission was then made in the absence of the jury.
