A police witness yesterday testified that murdered teen Neesa Gopaul had alleged that she was sexually assaulted by her step-father and then later withdrew the allegation.
Four witnesses testified yesterday when the long-awaited trial of Gopaul’s mother, Bibi Sharima-Gopaul and the step-father Jarvis Small commenced at the High Court, before Justice Navindra Singh.
Sharima-Gopaul and Small stand accused of killing the 16-year-old between September 24 and October 2, 2010, at Madewini, Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
Although the two defendants sat mere inches apart in the prisoners’ dock, they neither spoke nor looked at each other. While Sharima-Gopaul smiled when her attorney made arguments in her favour, Small just sat looking around the court and smiled at relatives in the courtroom.
Police Inspector Ingrid Abrams who was the officer-in-charge of the Leonora Police Station in 2010 was the first to testify. She told the court that in August of 2010, while she was stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at the Leonora Police Station, she received information that Sharima-Gopaul had made two reports; one in relation to an assault committed against her by Small and the other was an allegation that Small had sexually assaulted Neesa Gopaul.
She said she then had an interview with Sharima-Gopaul, who confirmed that she did make the reports. As a result, Abrams said she instructed a constable to get the assistance of a Crime Unit to have Small arrested. Later, the Inspector added that she instructed a female police officer to escort Neesa Gopaul to the West Demerara Regional Hospital, where a doctor issued a medical report on the teenager.
Abrams also testified that on August, 26, 2010, Neesa Gopaul, in the presence of her mother Sharima-Gopaul, returned to the Leonora Police Station and stated that the allegation of sexual assault made against Small was not true. “I asked her if it was not true, why did she lie,” the witness said, adding that Gopaul then declared that she was fed-up of Small and wanted him out of the home.
Abrams added that she then asked the teenager who she had sex with if not with Small and the teen said she had sex with her boyfriend on one occasion. When questioned about the particulars of the boyfriend, Abrams said, “She stopped talking.”
After Gopaul’s retraction, Abrams said on August, 27, 2010, Sharima-Gopaul visited the station once more to hand over a copy of an affidavit and asked if it was sufficient to have the charges against Small dropped. However, Abrams said she read the document and informed the woman that the allegation against Small was already before the court and the police had no authority to drop the matters. That affidavit was admitted as evidence in the trial and labelled as “Exhibit A.”
Under cross-examination by the defence attorneys for the two accused, Abrams admitted that no charge was pursued. She also said making a false allegation is an offence. Then there was the question of whether the police expected the affidavit, which was signed by Sharima-Gopaul, would deal with the assault of Sharima-Gopaul and the sexual assault of Neesa Gopaul. The defence attorneys, however, pointed out that the document was not signed by Neesa Gopaul and Abrams agreed.
Furthermore, the defence lawyers contended that the document had no admissibility in the trial since it did not relate to the murder of Gopaul, but rather to the assault against Sharima-Gopaul. Abrams later conceded that there was never an affidavit indicating the allegation was withdrawn by Neesa Gopaul.
Also taking the witness stand was Justice of the Peace Phillip Matthews, who told the court he prepared the affidavit, when Small upon the recommendation of a friend, contacted him and eventually showed up at his home in the presence of Sharima-Gopaul and a young female, who he was unable to identify.
The significance of Matthews’ testimony was that Neesa Gopaul never signed an affidavit prepared by him. He further noted that it was Sharima-Gopaul who requested an affidavit be made for a police report that she never gave details about.
Jennifer Sumrah, who was a CID rank at the Leonora Police Station in 2010, testified that she took the statements of Neesa Gopaul alleging and later retracting that she was sexually assaulted by Small. In all, Sumrah said she took three statements from Gopaul in relation to her allegation. Two of the three were taken on August 26, 2010, while the last was taken on September, 16, 2010.
At that point, one of Small’s four attorneys Bernard De Santos objected to the admission of the statements of Neesa Gopaul on the grounds that they were “seriously prejudicial” and “irrelevant” to any issue of deciding his client’s fate.
Additionally, Sharima-Gopaul’s attorney George Thomas, who supported the objection, added that it does not touch the material fact of murder.
State counsel Diane Kaulesar challenged De Santos’ objection and asserted that the statements were needed to add background and support the state’s contention that Small had motive to kill. Subsequently, Justice Singh upheld the objection.
Police constable Keisha Douglas, who was attached to the CID Department at the La Grange Police Station in 2010, also testified yesterday. She said she escorted Gopaul in the company of her mother to the West Demerara Regional Hospital to be examined by a doctor on August, 21, 2010. She said after the examination, a medical certificate was issued by the doctor.
