After recanting a sex abuse allegation against her step-father, Neesa Gopaul had made a third statement to police concerning the man but went missing before she was due to once again withdraw her claims, a police witness testified yesterday.
Three police witnesses testified yesterday when the trial of Bibi Sharima-Gopaul, the girl’s mother, and step-father Jarvis Small continued before Justice Navindra Singh in the High Court.
Sharima-Gopaul and Small stand accused of killing the 16-year-old between September 24, 2010, and October 2, 2010, at Madewini, Linden-Soesdyke Highway.
Detective Superintendent of Police Terrace Paul, who was the officer-in-charge of the crime division at the Leonora Police Station in 2010, testified that he was on duty on September 15, 2010, when Sharima-Gopaul and her sister, Bibi Redman, visited and requested to meet with him. He said in the presence of Sharima-Gopaul, Redman told him that her niece, Neesa Gopaul, was sexually assaulted by her step-father, Small.
Paul testified that Redman indicated to him that the matter was reported to the Leonora Police Station on August, 21, 2010 but Small had taken Sharima-Gopaul to a Justice of the Peace and settled the matter. Gopaul had subsequently given a written statement to the police denying that she had been sexually assaulted by Small.
Redman, Paul said, then informed him that Gopaul was now prepared to give another statement to the police about what Small did to her. He said he told Redman and Sharima-Gopaul to bring Gopaul to the station the next day.
Paul said on September 16, 2010, Gopaul, Sharima-Gopaul and Redman returned to the Leonora Police Station and the teen related a story to him. Subsequently, he said Gopaul gave a statement to now retired Special Constable Sumrah and he gave instructions for the arrest of Small.
However, Paul said on September 17, 2010, Sharima-Gopaul once more returned to the Leonora Police Station and told him that Small never had sex with Gopaul and that it was Redman who told Gopaul to fabricate the story. He added that Sharima-Gopaul told him that the fabrication was done to get Small out of her home. Further, he said, Sharima-Gopaul assured him that she was going to return to the station on the following day with Gopaul to verify that the story was fabricated.
The next day, at 4pm, while driving along the West Coast Demerara Public Road, Paul saw Small, Sharima-Gopaul, Gopaul and Redman in a car driving east along the Public Road. Assuming that all was well with the family, he added that he waited all day on September 19, 2010, for Gopaul and her mother to show up at the Leonora Police Station, but they never did. Sharima-Gopaul finally turned up at the Leonora Police Station on the morning of September 25, 2010 to report her daughter missing.
‘Afraid’
According to Paul, on the morning of October 3, 2010, he was on duty at the Leonora Police Station when he received information that prompted him to go to Sharima-Gopaul’s home, which was three to four houses away from the station. He said once he was there he told her that he had reason to suspect that between September 23, 2010 and October, 3, 2010, she along with Small murdered Neesa Gopaul. He stated that he then cautioned her and she began to cry.
She was later arrested and taken to the Leonora Police Station.
Paul added that an investigation was carried out which led to Small and Sharima-Gopaul being charged. He said while in custody, Sharima-Gopaul acknowledged that everything Gopaul had stated on September 16, 2010 was true.
Paul also testified that the police did take statements from two persons in relation to the murder. However, during cross-examination it was clarified that none of the witnesses admitted to having personal knowledge that Sharima-Gopaul and Small were responsible for Gopaul’s murder.
Paul also agreed under cross-examination by the defence that the police had no other information apart from the information that Gopaul was dead and he further agreed that it was not sufficient reason for an arrest or to lay charges.
He informed the defence attorneys that between September 25, 2010 and October 3, 2010, a message was sent to stations across the country about Gopaul’s disappearance.
The court also heard that Sharima-Gopaul was never taken to identify the body believed to be that of Gopaul after it was found and he did not visit the scene.
When asked by Lyndon Amsterdam, one of Small’s attorneys, whether he could recall Gopaul giving a name and address of her boyfriend, he said he could not.
Sharima-Gopaul’s attorney, George Thomas, asked Paul whether the police uplifted video footage from the Demerara Harbour Bridge to track Sharima-Gopaul’s car and he said he was not aware that it had been done.
Thomas sought to question Paul on what occurred following October 3, 2010, when the teenager’s body was found. It was at that point that Justice Singh objected, pointing out that the questions would be unfair to the witness, who was not a part of the investigation of the murder, which fell under the jurisdiction of Timehri.
During re-examination by the prosecution, which was led by State Counsel Diana Kaulesar, Paul told the court that Sharima-Gopaul had called him and informed him that the family did not want to stay at their home because they were afraid of Small, who was dangerous.
Paul also informed the court that dumbbells were removed from Small and Sharima-Gopaul’s homes, but could not recall if they were shown to the accused.
Owing to the new information that Sharima-Gopaul had told the police that she was afraid of Small, Amsterdam asked Paul why that did not appear in his statement. Paul said he did not think it was important. Amsterdam further asked why Small was not arrested after the police received that information and Paul said the police were pursuing him but he was dodging them.
Also taking the stand was police Corporal Collin Cole, who was attached to the Leonora Police Station’s Anti-Crime
Unit in September of 2010. He testified that on September 27, 2010, he and three other ranks from the unit were on mobile patrol and after receiving information from the “network” they proceeded to a hotel at East Bank Essequibo. At the hotel, he said they met with the receptionist and after an inquiry he was directed to a room.
Cole said he knocked on the door for ten minutes before Small eventually opened. Sharima-Gopaul was also in the room and they both looked uneasy, he added.
Cole added that a search was carried out but nothing, according to the information he received, was found and he left after carrying out a search on the person of Small and the room and a non-physical search on Sharima-Gopaul.
Another of Small’s attorneys, Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos, got Cole to agree that anyone would be uneasy with four policemen in their presence.
Meanwhile, Constable Leon George, who was attached to the Criminal Investigation Depart-ment’s crime lab at Police Headquarters, began his testimony yesterday. He said he took photographs at the scene on the day Gopaul’s body was discovered. He said he took pictures from the entrance of Emerald Tower resort to the spot where the body was discovered. He further mentioned that he took photos of dumbbells at the crime scene on the following day. The 25 photographs taken by George as well as the negatives were admitted into evidence.
The trial continues today.
