Preliminary inquiries (PI) into seven cases came to an end during the official final week for Magistrate Krisndat Persaud on the Corentyne and among those committed to stand trial in the High Court was Salim Bacchus for the murder of policeman Jirbahan Dianand.
The accused in the seven cases are Salim Bacchus aka Black Salim, Marlon Fordyce, Troy Stewart, Fazal Mohamed, Samuel Intiaza Shaw, Ramsammy Angalallum, Robert Rawlins, father and son Doodnauth Binda and Mukesh Binda, Dhanram ‘Chris’ Rajpersaud, Yogeshwar ‘Sham’ Dhaniram and Ramesh Ramballi. All of the accused expect Rawlins were committed to stand trial.
As Magistrate Persaud presided over his final sitting on May 20th, 2013, at the Whim Magistrate’s Court, the Preliminary Inquiry into the murder of detective Constable 20682 Dianand, 23, of Lot 70 No. 64 Village, Corentyne ended. Bacchus, aka Black Salim, of 139 Line Path ‘D’, Corriverton, Corentyne, Berbice, appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo at the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court where he was charged with the murder on 22nd of November 2012. On Monday at the end of the PI, Bacchus was committed to stand trial at the High Court. The case was prosecuted by police Superintendent Robert Tyndall whilst Bacchus was represented by attorneys-at-law Mursaline Bacchus and Ramesh Rajkumar.
On September 14, 2012 Dianand was discovered in his car, which was parked on a lonely road two miles from Moleson Creek at 5:30 hrs. He had been shot twice: one wound to his forehead and the other below his left ear. His death had rocked Berbice.
On 22nd of May, 2013 at the No. 51 Magistrate’s Court, three PI’s concluded. Magistrate Persaud committed Mohamed aka Mongoose, Samuel Intiaza Shaw and Angalallum to stand trial while Rawlins’ case was discharged.
It was reported that Mohamed, a carpenter of No. 67 village Corentyne, on August 20th 2012, murdered seven-year-old Saheed Makatnauth of No. 68 village housing scheme squatting area, Corentyne. Mohamed and Makatnauth were seen on the road by a few residents who were returning from the hospital. The residents had taken Makanauth’s mother to the Skeldon Hospital after she had consumed kerosene oil due to frustration at a violent domestic relationship. The neighbours had said when they asked where they were going Mohamed replied that they were going to get something to eat. However when Mohamed returned to the family’s home on the following day and was questioned about the boy’s whereabouts, he told the family that he had crossed the child over the road for him to return home. The body of the boy was later found behind a rice mill in the community after residents combed the area.
Mohamed was charged on the 23rd of August 2012, before Magistrate Persaud in the Springlands Magistrate’s court.
Shaw and Angalallum had appeared in court on the charge of the attempted murder of Bijai Ramdass. They men were committed to stand trial.
Reports are that Ramdass went to his farmland to harvest his plantains when one of his employees suffered a minor injury.
They were forced to leave and on their way out they saw two men sitting at the corner of the trench. One threw out a tube which hooked on to Ramdass’s boat. Ramdass was subsequently showered with pellets along with his employee.
Meanwhile on Tuesday and Thursday in the Springlands Magistrate’s court Fordyce, Stewart, the Bindas, Rajpersaud, Danheram and Rambali were committed to trial in the High Court.
Fordyce and Stewart were committed to stand trial for the murder of Rajmohan “Vishnu” Phaskanran, 47, a fisherman of Lot 46 Section C Number 79 Village, Corentyne, Berbice. They were represented by attorneys at law Tonya Clementson and Kim Kyte-John.
Reports are that on December 18, 2012 Phaskanran was brutally chopped in the wee hours and succumbed on December 26 in the Intensive Care Unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
On Thursday 23rd of May 2013, the Bindas, Rajpersaud, Danheram and Rambali appeared in the Springlands Magistrate’s Court for the conclusion of the PI in their matters.
Doodnauth Binda and Mukesh Binda were committed for the attempted murder of Jamla Crawford at No.43 Village Corentyne. The duo was represented by attorney at law Rodwell Jagmohan.
Dhaneram and Rajersaud were committed to stand trial for the murder of 17- year- old Sasenarine ‘Suraj’ Persaud of Number 70 Village on April 29, 2012. Persaud had gone to the rescue of his stepfather during an argument when he was fatally chopped.
Also on Thursday, Ramballi was committed to trial in the High Court, for the murder of Ajai Mohabir, 32, a farmhand of Crabwood Creek, Corentyne. Mohabir’s decomposed body was found on February 12, 2012 in a canal.
Dismissed
Rawlins of Kingston, Corriverton had been charged with the murder of Kumar Singh, 49, a joiner of 34 Yacoob Street, No.79 Village, Corentyne. The PI in the case came to an end in the No.51 Magistrate’s Court on the 22nd of May 2013 and Rawlins was discharged after no-case submissions by his attorney Mursaline Bacchus were upheld by Magistrate Persaud.
According to reports, Singh’s lifeless body was discovered on the floor of his bedroom on 22nd of August 2012. Singh lived alone in a separate apartment from a cousin but shared the same washroom. The said cousin went over to use the washroom and saw that Singh’s door had been broken.
The man’s lifeless body was later found. A post-mortem examination showed that the joiner died of manual strangulation.
All the cases except Detective Constable Dianand’s were prosecuted by police corporal Althea Solomon. Although that was the final week for Magistrate Persaud, the longest serving magistrate has been given time to conclude some other criminal matters. Magistrate Persaud in his 80th year served in the judiciary for over 20 years. (David Papannah)
