Accused Joseph Kaladin, who is on trial for killing his brother, yesterday testified that it was his brother who attacked him with a broken rum bottle and he in turn only tried to disarm him.
After the close of the prosecution’s case yesterday, Kaladin, who is unrepresented by counsel, opted to lead his defence through unsworn testimony from the prisoner’s dock at the High Court, in Georgetown.
The manslaughter charge against Kaladin states that on November 19, 2010, he unlawfully killed his brother, Ganesh Nabi, 33, who was stabbed to death.
According to Kaladin, on the day in question they were drinking when his brother began arguing with him about a lost cell phone and some money.
Kaladin said during the argument his brother armed himself with the rum bottle from which they had been drinking and broke it against a bench on which they were sitting, before boring him with it.
The accused told the court that it was at this point that he scrambled his brother’s hand in a bid to disarm him. “The only thing I coulda do was scramble the hand with the bottle,” he said.
He added that a scuffle then ensued between them. He said he then left to get a taxi to transport his brother to the hospital but was subsequently picked up by the police.
“Me and me brother used to live good. Me ain’t know wah happen to he that day, and it all seemed to be ’cause of the phone,” Kaladin submitted.
The trial continues this morning at 9, when Kaladin is expected to call two witnesses to the stand in his defence.
Government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, the last of the prosecution’s eight witnesses, testified yesterday that Nabi died of haemorrhage and shock due to a stab wound to the neck.
Justice Jo-Ann Barlow is presiding over the trial. The state’s case is being led by prosecutor Narissa Leander in association with attorney Teshanna James-Lake.
