(Trinidad Express) Two men were yesterday freed by an Arima magistrate of murdering a 24-year-old Guyanese national two years ago.
In upholding a no-case submission made on behalf of Adriel Stafford, 18, and Alazard Abdool Ghany, 24, Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan said the evidence led by the State was found to be manifestly unreliable.
Cardenas-Ragoonanan said the State’s main witness, under cross-examination by Senior Counsel Israel Khan, contradicted the evidence she gave in her witness statements.
The witness, she said, even admitted she lied in the witness statements.
Appearing with Khan was attorney Celeste St Louis.
Ramsamai Muthusami was chopped to death at a house in Arima by a group of men armed with cutlasses on August 13, 2010.
He and three other occupants of the house were playing cards when the men entered.
The men questioned Muthusami about the whereabouts of a television set and jewelry.
He was beaten and chopped repeatedly, following which the men escaped.
In an interview shortly after his death, Muthusami’s relatives said he came to this country in 2006 to find a better life.
His sister Shivani Singh said she was of the opinion her family will not get justice in the matter.
Muthusami lived and worked at a sawmill along Cleaver Road in Arima.