Bramanand Singh who is on trial for the killing of his father Manseh Singh in January 2005 had admitted to the police that he gave his dad a “couple cuffs” which caused him to fall, hit himself and die and said he was sorry it happened.
This is according to a caution statement read in court yesterday by the first prosecution witness Detective Assistant Superintendent of Police Joel David and tendered as evidence without objections by the defence.
A jury was empanelled before Justice Roxane George to hear the trial of the 39-year-old goldsmith, who is accused of unlawfully killing his father.
Upon his arraignment, Bramanand Singh pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge which stated that between January 27 and 28, 2005 at their Lot 51 Stewartville, West Coast Demerara home, he unlawfully killed his father Manseh.
In her opening address to the jury, Prosecutor Shawnette Austin said that on the evening of January 27 Bramanand and his father had a confrontation and the following day, the father’s body was found under the house. She said the police were summoned to the scene and after conducting investigations, the accused was later arrested and charged.
The prosecutor in her address told the jury that Government Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh had given the cause of death as a ruptured spleen and liver due to multiple blunt trauma to chest and abdomen.
She asked the jury to be patient and attentive as the prosecution presents its case through its seven witnesses comprising three policemen, three civilians and Dr Singh.
Austin emphasized to the jurors that the accused has nothing to prove as the burden of proof lies squarely with the prosecution.
On the prosecution team are also attorneys Diana Kaulesar and Stacy Goodings; the accused is represented by attorney Sonia Parag.
ASP David was first to take the witness stand. He recalled visiting the scene on January 28, 2005 where he said he saw Manseh Singh lying motionless on the ground.
David said that upon examining the body, he observed that it bore several black and blue circular marks on the chest, stomach and abdomen; as well as bruises to both elbows. He said that he instructed a rank to process the scene and another to escort the body to the West Demerara Regional Hospital for pronouncement.
ASP David said that as a consequence of information which he received after questioning persons, he contacted the accused at the Leonora Police Station where he told him that he was in receipt of information that he had allegedly assaulted his father. David then read the caution statement.
The accused in the statement said that about two to three days before, his father had stolen a gold ring from his sister-in-law Ruth at Agricola. He said Ruth had called and told him about the ring and he kept asking his father about it, until he admitted that he had stolen it.
The statement said the accused told his father that he would pay the person to whom he had sold the ring so that he could collect it back, but his father said “he ain’t got time for that.”
The court heard from the statement that on the night of January 27, 2005 Bramanand had about four to five beers to drink and “was a little high” when he spoke to his father about the ring again. Once again, his father again told him, “he aint got time for no ring, so I give him a couple cuff under the house and he fall on the wooden rocker and hit himself. I give him couple cuff in the stomach area.”
The court also heard that Singh left his father where he had fallen and went into the house. He said that around 4 am he checked on his father who “look like he dead but my wife and I wait until day clean and called my cousin, Anand Muneshwer, who reported the matter to the police at Leonora Station.
“I came to the station and I am telling the police the truth. I did not hit my father to kill him. I love my father but he uses to drink a lot,” Singh said in the statement.
Singh told the police in the statement that his father was unemployed and stole from him several times to support his drinking habit. He said he took care of his father, who also lived at the bottom flat of the house he shared with his wife, and supported him financially.
The statement quotes Singh as saying, “I am very sorry that the couple cuff I gave him caused his death.”
The accused, a goldsmith by profession, is currently on $50,000 bail.
The trial continues today.
