Murder accused Andrew Albert yesterday testified that he killed Nandalall Bopat in self-defence and that his statement to the police about the fatal encounter was not the same as the prosecution produced to the court.
Albert is on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Georgetown, for the 2010 murder of 43-year-old Bopat. It is alleged that on August 10th, 2010, at Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara, he murdered Bopat. He has denied the charge.
Leading his defence in unsworn testimony from the prisoner’s dock, Albert told the court that on the day of the killing he was plying his trade as a broom seller when Bopat called out to him and threatened him by telling him it would be his “last day.”
Albert said he had a broken leg in a cast at the time and walked with crutches. Bopat, he claimed, threatened to break his other leg. He added that he ignored the threats but Bopat persisted and then struck him to his left shoulder.
According to Albert, he appealed to Bopat to leave him alone but the man told him, “You got to go down today.”
He said he became scared and again attempted to walk away but Bopat dealt him a blow to his neck and right shoulder.
He further said he accused Bopat of taking advantage of him but the man nonetheless continued to pursue him and repeatedly hit him, while encouraging him to “represent” himself. Albert said that it was at this point that he dealt Bopat a blow with one of his crutches, which caused him to fall.
Albert recounted hollering for assistance but he added that no one went to his aid. As a result, he said he retrieved a knife from his pocket before Bopat confronted him and informed that he was going to finish him off with his own knife.
“He rushed into me, sir. I tried to defend myself by bracing him with my hand, and I hear he holler ah,” the accused said, before adding that he then realised that the knife had cut Bopat on his stomach.
The accused said he tried to push Bopat away from him but the man went back up to him, while telling him, “Don’t feel this gon done like duh.”
According to Albert, Bopat then ran into him and they both fell on the ground and he again heard the deceased say “ah,” at which point he realised that the knife had cut Bopat again.
Albert told the court that Bopat cuffed him to his mouth and broke a tooth. “He was trying to kill me at that time, sir,” the accused said.
After Albert’s testimony, his lawyer George Thomas indicated that they had no witnesses to call.
In his closing address to the jury, Thomas advanced that his client was merely attempting to defend himself from Bopat, who posed a threat to his life.
Counsel appealed to the jury to consider that his client was under attack, while arguing that the prosecution has failed to establish that the accused killed Bopat with the full intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm.
As a result, he urged them to return a not guilty verdict.
Meanwhile, state attorney Narissa Leander, in her address to the jury, advanced that even if the accused had been acting in self defence, his actions were excessive. She asked the jury to recall pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh’s testimony that there were 14 stab wounds on Bopat’s body.
Singh had testified that Bopat died from perforation of the spleen and blood vessel due to stab wounds.
Signed statement
Albert also said that after he was arrested by the police, they began beating him and threatened that they would not stop unless he give them a statement.
Out of fear, he added, he agreed to give the police a statement, to which he affixed his thumbprint, since he does not know to read or write.
According to Albert, the lawmen took him into the Leonora Backdam, where the officer-in-charge told him that he had to give them a statement regarding the incident and then slapped him.
He said the officer told him that he had to tell them the truth, after which they retrieved a piece of wood from the car in which they had travelled to the location. “I get scared when I see the wood,” Albert lamented.
He told the court that it was at that point that he took off his shirt to show the police injuries which Bopat had inflicted upon him and he questioned whether they were still going to beat him.
“They seh the only way I ain’t gon get licks is if I give them a statement and sign it and I agree, sir,” Albert told the court.
He said after they returned to the Leonora Police Station, the lawmen then asked whether he knew to read and write, to which he said no.
The accused said it was at this point that one of the officers opted to write his statement for him. He said the officer asked what occurred between him and the deceased on the day in question, and he told them exactly what transpired.
He said the officer then re-read the statement to him, which contained all that he had related, after which they allowed him to affix his thumbprint to the document because he could not read or write.
Albert told the court that after he gave the police the statement and affixed his thumbprint, they placed him in the lockups and told him “not to worry” and that within six to eight months he would be “out of prison.”
According to the accused, everything went well until Monday, when he realised that the statement which he gave the police was different from the one presented to the court.
The statement presented before Justice Singh and the jury on Monday included a signature that was purportedly Albert’s. Defence attorney Thomas argued that the statement was not his client’s when he cross-examined one of the police witnesses on Monday.
The trial will continue tomorrow morning when Justice Singh will sum-up the case to the jury before handing it over to them for the return of a verdict.
