A 13-year-old girl was among four witnesses who testified yesterday when the trial of Clive Knights, who was charged with murdering GTM manager Bert Whyte in May 2012, began before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury.
In her opening address, State Counsel Judith Gildharie-Mursalin said that on May 14, 2012, Whyte left his home at Phoenix Park, West Bank Demerara home and dropped his niece off at school in Georgetown before heading to work.
The court heard that later that night, brother of the deceased, Steve Whyte got a phone call which resulted in him making his way to the Accident and Emergency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital. There, Gildharie-Mursalin said, he saw his brother lying motionlessly on a bed, with what had appeared to be blood on his clothing and two puncture wounds to his chest.
She related that on May 16, 2012 a post-mortem examination was done which revealed that Whyte had sustained two stab wounds on the left chest going to the right and the cause of death was given as haemorrhage and shock due to perforation of the heart and lung as well as stab wounds.
An investigation was launched and a wanted bulletin was issued for the accused who was subsequently apprehended by officers, who had stopped the bus in which he was a passenger, at a road block on the Linden/Soesdyke Highway.
Knights was subsequently charged with murdering 44-year-old Whyte on May 14, at Bentick Street, South Cummingsburg.
The first witness to testify was Company Secretary to the Board of Directors at the GTM Insurance Company Jacqueline Yusuf, who told the court that Whyte was the assistant company secretary at GTM and the last time she saw him which was on May 14, 2012, he had appeared normal.
In his testimony, Lance Corporal Langhorne told the court that on August 4, 2012 a Route 43 bus heading to Georgetown was stopped as part of a customary road block exercise. He said Knights was a passenger in the bus and he raised suspicion when he was observed trying to avoid being seen. The officer further stated that when he asked the accused where he was from, the man gave him several different answers; one time stating that he was from Berbice and another time that he was from Linden. Additionally, he had also given his name as Troy David.
The officer told the court that Knights had matched the description of someone for whom a wanted bulletin had been issued, and as a result he was detained.
Under cross-examination, Knights’s attorney Konyo Thompson sought to establish whether or not Langhorne had made any documentation of Knights giving his name as Troy David to which the officer admitted that such steps were not taken.
Thompson then enquired whether Langhorne had booked Knights in the station diary when he was detained, which the officer admitted that he didn’t do. Moreover, when asked, Langhorne agreed that recording information in such incidents is important.
When reexamined by the prosecution as to why no records were made, Langhorne stated that he hadn’t an explanation for that.
Thirteen-year-old Rayshawn Whyte who was reportedly one of the last persons to see Whyte alive was also called to testify. The teen explained that Knights was in front passenger seat of her uncle’s car when he went to pick her up and that he was still in the car when she exited at the Stabroek Market. She said too that the last time she saw Whyte, he had appeared healthy and normal.
Additionally, the witness admitted to have looked through 365 pictures each three times while at the Brickdam Police Station with the aim of identifying the man in the passenger’s seat. The witness further related on all three occasions, she identified the first picture in the album as that of the man who was in the car with Whyte, the man was later identified as Knights.
In response to questions by the defence, she witness admitted that the picture of Knights had differed from the others as it had appeared to be much older and taken in a manner which only showed the head to mid chest.
She denied having previously told the magistrate that she could not recall how many photos she looked through and that she had given an estimate of about ten pages.
Brother of the deceased Steve Whyte gave his testimony via Skype since he is currently residing in New York.
The man testified that his brother had worked at GPHC for about 10 years before he moved to GTM where he stayed for six months before he was murdered.
He further related that when he had seen his brother’s body at the hospital, he had observed two puncture wounds on his chest and a brown stain on his nose which had appeared to be blood. He too indicated that the last time he saw his brother, the man had appeared to be in excellent health.
In response to questions posed by the defence, Steve Whyte admitted that apart from the two wounds and bloody nose, he did not observe any other visible injuries on his brother’s body.
The trial continues today.
