Mohamed Chand, the husband of Land Court judge Nicola Pierre, yesterday recounted the violent home invasion that cost him his right eye and identified three of the five accused now on trial as the men who carried out the attack.
Chand took the stand at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court, where Warren McKenzie, Nicholas Narine, Daymeion Millington, Premnauth Samaroo and Anthony David are on trial before Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul.
The five accused are jointly charged with robbing Justice Pierre and Mohamed Chand, as well as shooting at a security guard on July 9, 2015. It is alleged that the men robbed Justice Pierre of articles including watches, a tablet, video game consoles and games, a phone, a laptop and a quantity of gold and gemstones, all amounting to a total value of $1 million. It is also alleged that they robbed Chand of five watches, a wedding ring, four Oakley sunglasses, two leather wallets, a Samsung S5 cellphone and US$8,000, all amounting $2,630, 000.
During his testimony, Chand stated that on the night of the attack he went home around 10pm and he secured his property. He said he, his wife and child retired to bed around 11pm.
Around 1am, Chand said he was awakened by a man standing over him with a gun. “I was laying in the bed when the man with a gun woke me up, yelling at me to “‘get up, get up,’” Chand related.
He said he quickly got up and pushed the man, whom he later identified as McKenzie. After he pushed McKenzie, he said, the man hit him on his head with the gun.
He said that the accused then choked him from behind and proceeded to tie him up.
Chand then said that he was muffled by the duct tape that was used to cover his mouth and then another man entered the room to help McKenzie to drag him into a walk-in closet on the third floor of the house.
Wanted more
Chand added that McKenzie left the room, leaving him and the next man in the closet. A few minutes later, he said, McKenzie returned to the closet with his wife, whom he was holding by her neck. Chand also pointed out to the court two other men, Narine and Millington, as those who were with McKenzie in the closet, where they terrorised him and his wife. During her testimony on Monday, Justice Pierre had also identified McKenzie, Narine and Millington as being among the men who carried out the attack.
Chand said that even though the men got the valuables and the safe keys shown to them by his wife, they still wanted more. He noted that McKenzie kept asking, “Where the money f***ing deh?”
He said at one point when his wife attempted to explain that there was no more, McKenzie slapped her and then him when he tried to get up to stop the man from hurting her. He recounted that while they were in the closet for about eight to ten minutes, the men said something and then Narine dragged his wife out of the closet. “After they left with her, the man that was behind me dragged me back to the master bedroom and he found a bag that had money,” Chand said. The bag contained US$8,000. He said the man took the money and then started to beat him on his head. He estimated that he was assaulted for about two minutes. He subsequently collapsed near to the bed.
After the attack, Chand was taken to the emergency room of Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital in Georgetown. He was examined and treated by one of the doctors, who then wrote a medical certificate, which was tendered in court yesterday.
Chand said that he spent two days at the hospital and when he was discharged he went to Miami, where he underwent three surgeries to stop the bleeding in his right eye. Because of the severe beating he received, Chand was forced to have his right eye, which was broken into two pieces, removed. He related to the court that later in the morning after the attack he had realised that his vision in his right eye was impaired.
Chatty accused
identified by voice
Also taking the stand yesterday was Justice Pierre, who continued her testimony.
Following the attack, the judge was also admitted to the Dr Balwant Singh’s Hospital for injuries which she sustained to her right hand and her face. She told the court that she was at the private hospital for a day and she subsequently travelled to Canada, where she received further medical treatment, including surgery to her face.
She noted that the men in the closet who attacked her and her husband were not masked. She also said that while he kept watch over her, Narine was talking the entire time they were in the room together.
While in Canada, the judge said she was contacted by Assistant Superintendent Greaves of the Criminal Investigation Department, who informed her that he would set up an identification (ID) parade via a Skype video call. She noted that he explained to her that the men in the parade would be holding numbers, which she could use to identify any of them she recognised as the perpetrator/s of the home invasion.
The court heard that the ID parade that was done via Skype did not suffer any delay and she could have seen and heard everything clearly. She added that the camera focused on the men individually and then it zoomed out so that she could clearly see their build and size.
When the first ID parade was done, the judge said she did not see anyone matching the description of the men.
However, in the second ID parade, she pointed out the “Number One” person, who was Narine. Justice Pierre said she then asked if she could ask the man a question. She said she asked him to say something and when he spoke, she recognised “the voice of the man who questioned me in my bedroom.”
Meanwhile, attorney Adrian Thompson, who is representing Narine and Samaroo, was absent during yesterday’s proceedings and this prompted Magistrate Ally-Seepaul to urge the men to get in contact with him so he can be present for future hearings.
The trial is scheduled to continue today.
