Attorney Vic Puran, who is representing Bibi Sharima-Gopaul in the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the murder of Neesa Gopaul yesterday made oral submissions in response to the prosecution’s case.
Puran challenged the strength of a piece of evidence advanced by the prosecution against his client in which she is reported to have had a certain conversation with another prisoner while in her cell at the East La Penitence lock-ups.
State Prosecutor Prithima Kissoon in her response to the attorney’s address said, however, that the prosecution relies on its evidence and the testimony of its witnesses in the case.
The matter has been adjourned to July 25 for Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos who is representing Jarvis Small to make further responses to the prosecution’s case against his client.
Bibi and her lover 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 Bibi’s daughter Neesa Lolita 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 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.
