The only evidence the police have linking Troy Greene to the 2010 murder of hairdresser Bibi Saymar at her Hague, West Coast Demerara home, is the caution statement he allegedly made, according to the defence yesterday during his High Court trial.
The defence disputed the assertion by the prosecution that the caution statement was freely given by Greene.
Greene is accused of killing Saymar at the instigation of her reputed husband Dennis Persaud, who had also been charged but had the case against him thrown out for insufficient evidence.
Police witness Sergeant Paul Wintz, who told the court that he took Greene’s caution statement, was the lone witness during yesterday’s session. He said he had held a confrontation between Persaud and Greene at the Leonora Police Station about the murder.
According to Wintz, Greene had stated that Persaud called him on his cellular phone and offered him US$1,500 to go to the couple’s home along with one Shane Simon to kill Saymar. In the purported caution statement, Greene said he was picked up by Simon at Market Road, East La Penitence and taken to the couple’s home, where he “stab up” Saymar several times about her body, before returning to Georgetown.
Wintz added that he had also held a confrontation between Greene and Simon. The officer said that Greene told Simon in his presence that he [Simon] collected Greene at Market Road, La Penitence and took him to Persaud’s home to commit the crime.
The witness said he then drew Simon’s attention to what the accused had said and cautioned him. Simon had denied taking Greene anywhere in his car.
Greene’s attorney Peter Hugh, during cross-examination argued that prior to the caution statement, there was no evidence implicating Greene in the stabbing, injury and death of Saymar. Wintz responded that a neighbour had given information.
Hugh suggested to Wintz that in the absence of any evidence linking Greene to the murder, it was important that he got a caution statement from the accused. Moreover, Hugh further suggested that that the caution statement was written by the police based on the information they had and not from his client’s lips. However, Wintz maintained that caution statement was not concocted.
Additionally Hugh suggested that no one ever positively identified Greene and Wintz conceded under cross-examination that Greene was never positively identified by the neighbour who testified.
The court heard during re-examination by attorney Mercedes Thompson, who presented the state’s case, that Wintz did not ask anyone in the couple’s neighbourhood if they had seen a car fitting the description of Simon’s car. Wintz was also uncertain whether any other investigating rank had enquired.
On Monday, before Justice Navindra Singh, who is presiding over the trial along with a 12-member jury, government pathologist Dr Vivekanand Brijmohan testified that Saymar had died from shock and haemorrhage caused by multiple stab wounds.
Two of Saymar’s former neighbours had also testified on Monday and had told the court that Saymar and her reputed husband had constantly argued.
The trial continues today.
