Under cross-examination, Land Court Judge Nicola Pierre and her husband Mohamed Chan yesterday maintained that they were not mistaken when they identified Nicholas Narine as one of the men who was in their home when they were beaten and robbed by intruders.
They stood by their identification of the accused during questioning yesterday by defence attorney Adrian Thompson, who is representing Narine and Premnauth Samaroo, two of the five men charged with robbing them and shooting at their security guard, Ron Peters, on July 9, 2015.
When their trial continued at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court, Thompson cross-examined Justice Pierre, Chan, Peters and motorist Phillip Lewis.
When Justice Pierre took the stand, Thompson asked about the two identification (ID) parades that were conducted by the police via Skype, while she had been in Canada. She said once more that during the first ID parade, she did not identify any of the suspects, while during the second ID parade she identified Narine.
Justice Pierre also told the court that she did not know if any of the persons who were in the first ID parade made another appearance in the second ID parade. When asked by the attorney if she was informed before the ID parades of the names of the suspects involved in the robbery, she said that she was not informed of the names of the persons in the parades but prior to her departure to Canada persons were held for the crime by the police and she heard of their names.
The attorney then quickly moved to suggest that when Justice Pierre gave her statement to the police, she did not describe his client, Narine, to them. He also suggested to her that she may have mistakenly picked out Narine as one of the men who was in her home on the night of the attack. However, the judge told the court that she was not mistaken that Narine was in her home at the time of the attack. She also gave a description of the suspect to the police, in which she detailed his height, build and race.
While he was under cross-examination, Chan also told the court that he picked out Narine in the second ID parade and he was not mistaken that the man was one of the men who was in his home on the night of the attack.
During an ID parade, Peters had identified Samaroo as one of the six men he saw on the night leaving the premises. He had said the men shot at him while fleeing the scene. Peters told the court that he was able to give a description of the men, including Samaroo to the police. He also agreed that the men did escape from his custody and they were at a distance of eighty feet away from him. The attorney, however, suggested that given that it was night and the men were standing 80 feet away from Peters, he would not be able to identify anyone.
Also charged with the crimes are Warren McKenzie, Daymeion Millington and Anthony David. It is alleged that on July 9, 2015, the five 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 Chan 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.
The trial continues today.
