In a statement to police, Bibi Sharima-Gopaul claimed she last saw her murdered daughter Neesa Gopaul alive when they watched television together on the night of September 23, 2010, a witness testified yesterday.
Superintendent of Police Hugh Jessemy read an ordinary statement which he said he took from Sharima-Gopaul, who he said also told him that her daughter had become “wayward” in Form Two.
Jessemy was at the time testifying in the trial of Sharima-Gopaul and Jarvis Small, who are accused of the teen’s murder.
Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury heard from the statement, which was admitted into evidence, that Sharima-Gopaul told Jessemy that on the night of September 23, 2010, she, Neesa and her younger daughter Merriam had retired to one of their bedrooms and they were all watching television.
The court heard that the woman fell asleep at about 10 PM. Jessemy said she told him that when she awoke at about 5 AM the next morning, she noticed that Neesa was not in her bed. He said according to what Sharima-Gopaul related to him, she realised sometime after 6 that morning that her elder daughter was not in the yard or anywhere to be found.
The witness read that the woman then told him that she reported her daughter missing on September 25, 2010 and that she had received a call from a police officer some days later about her daughter’s body being found.
He said the accused told him that she subsequently visited the Lyken Funeral Home, where she identified the remains as being that of her daughter, from the black pair of tights and multi-coloured blouse she wore the night they were watching television.
Jessemy said the woman told him that investigators showed her a sheet, black bag and dress. According to the witness, Sharima-Gopaul told investigators that she did not know if the sheet was hers, the dress was not hers and that she did not know the black bag.
He noted too that Sharima-Gopaul told him that while in second form at Queen’s College, Neesa had become “wayward.” From the statement read, he said also that the teen slept out at times and refused to listen to her father when he was alive, based on her mother’s account.
Jessemy, who said he assisted in the murder investigation, also told the court that on October 4, 2010, he was part of the party of policemen present during the search of Sharima-Gopaul’s Lot 13 Public Road, Leonora home.
He said in the hallway of the upper flat of the building he observed a bag on a table packed with male and female clothing along with a kitchen knife.
Jessemy will be cross-examined by the defence today.
Meanwhile, also testifying at yesterday’s hearing was Assistant Superinten-dent of Police Joel David, who said he was present when Detective Assistant Superintendent Mitchell Ceasar interviewed Small on October 6, 2010.
He said that during the interview, he heard when Small told Ceasar that he did not murder Neesa Gopaul but knew who did and that if he should relate the story the investigation would take another direction and that Sharima-Gopaul would only be charged as an accessory.
Ceasar, in his testimony before the court, had stated that Small had told him during the interview that he did not murder the teen but knew who did and that if he were to reveal that information the investigation would turn in the “correct direction.”
David said that he was also present when Small made the statement, with the proviso that his lawyer, Bernard De Santos SC, had to be present. The witness said too that Small owned a pair of dumbbells which were shown to him in custody.
David, who is attached to the Criminal Investiga-tion Department (CID) of the Ruimveldt Police Station, recalled being present when Ceasar put the murder allegation to Small.
According to David, he saw when Ceasar made diary entries of the confrontation held with Small and that neither he [David], nor anyone else in his presence coerced the accused into saying what he said.
David said also that on October 7, 2010, he witnessed a confrontation held by Ceasar between Small and Sharima-Gopaul. The witness said he assisted in investigations by taking statements from the persons who testified about fabricating and painting the dumbbells.
Under cross-examination by attorney Lyndon Amsterdam, one of Small’s four attorneys, David said when he was informed by Chapman that he would be part of the team investigating the murder, his superior did not tell him if police had any evidence against the suspects.
Asked if he considered himself an expert detective, David answered in the negative, stating, “Every day you learn something new.”
Quizzed on whether the police were keeping Small up-to-date on their investigations, or whether they were showing him the police file, David said no. It was at this point that Amsterdam then enquired from the witness how Small would have known in what direction the investigation was going, or needed to go.
The witness then stated that from the questions in discussion during his interview, and based on what he knew the police had, it is possible for Small to have known that the police could have been going in the wrong direction.
Responding to questions under cross-examination by George Thomas, Sharima-Gopaul’s attorney, David said that he personally did not know of any forensic evidence linking Sharima-Gopaul to the crime.
Superintendent Stephen Greaves, who is stationed at the CID, Eve Leary and attached to the Police Forensic Lab, was also cross-examined yesterday. Greaves completed his evidence-in-chief last Wednesday. He had testified about travelling to the Forensic Sciences Centre Laboratory in Barbados, where he delivered samples taken from the body suspected to be that of Neesa to be tested for DNA analysis along with biological samples taken from her mother, little sister, and grandfather.
Under cross-examination by Amsterdam, Greaves said that he was not aware that the lab in Barbados was not certified by the International Standardisation Organisa-tion (ISO) when he took the samples there in 2011 and he was still not aware of that until recently saw that information in the newspaper during the coverage of the trial.
The witness agreed with counsel that it is important to have the lab and its equipment certified but added that the ISO is not the only such certifying body. He also agreed that when heavy reliance is placed on an equipment performing efficiently, it has to be certified.
Greaves agreed too that once there is a faulty equipment, there would be no ISO certification and that since he was not present when the tests were conducted, he would not know how the samples were stored.
Greaves disagreed with counsel’s assertion that the lab at Eve Leary is not equipped with a generator that is activated during power outages.
Sharima-Gopaul and Small are accused of killing the 16-year-old Neesa between September 24, 2010, and October 2, 2010, at Madewini, Linden-Soesdyke Highway. The teen’s body was found stuffed into a suitcase, which was anchored in a creek at the Emerald Tower Resort with several dumbbells.
