Businessman Charles Henry yesterday admitted to fatally shooting Errol Lindo, whom he said was advancing towards him with an axe.
Henry, known as ‘Bristol,’ is on trial before Justice Franklyn Holder, for the April 16, 2014 murder of Lindo, at Lot 1 Caracas, West Canje, Berbice.
Henry made the self defence claim in an unsworn statement after Justice Holder overruled no-case submissions advanced by lead defence counsel Nigel Hughes on Tuesday and called on the accused to lead his defence.
The accused said he saw Lindo running towards him with an axe.
“At that time, he was 15ft away. I took out my licensed firearm and fired a warning shot in the air. Lindo was still coming. I fired a shot to his left side thigh. Lindo was still coming and was firing chops with an axe. I slipped and fell between a water tank and a cow pen. Lindo was coming with an axe. I had no chance to aim. I fired. He sustained an injury to his shoulder. Lindo fell close to me. I jumped over Lindo and went on the dam and called attorney-at-law [Horatio] Edmonson, who advised me to get the axe. He told me not to hold it with my hand and that I must give it over to the police when they arrive,” he said.
The accused recalled that he was holding the axe when a mob attacked him and took the axe as well as his iPad.
He added that attempts were made to take away his firearm but the mob got his holster and threw all the items into a trench.
He said effort to contact the police at Central Police Station and then Commander Brian Joseph proved futile. However, he succeeded in contacting Commander Clifton Hicken of ‘A’ Division as he sought shelter at someone named Meena.
“Shortly afterwards, the police, including Indarpaul, Walters and Azore arrived on the scene. The crowd was disorderly. Indarpaul took my keys to move my vehicle but it was not moved. Instead, the vehicle was looted. Persons attempted to push the vehicle into the trench. I urged the police to stop persons form looting the vehicle, which had money and other valuables. But the crowd got intense, and Azore, who was armed with a machine gun, fired a shot in the air. The crowd still pressed forward and they asked for backup. Other police came in full riot gear. I was driven to Central Police Station, where I saw [Mark] O’ Brien being interviewed by the police. I was taken to Reliance Police Station on Wednesday 16, April, 2014 and was never charged until the following Tuesday. My rights were never read to me. No one told me why I was charged,” he added.
Earlier, the accused said he owned Lot 1 Caracas, Vryheid, West Canje for over three years. The plot of land, he explained, was previously owned by his great uncle since the 1930s and he was awarded it following an order by Justice William Ramlal on May 8, 2012.
According to Henry, on many occasions he attempted to sort out the land issues. However while some persons were cooperating, others were not.
He claimed that some persons were living on the land for long periods, had claimed ownership and were even collecting monies from others.
Consequently, he said he consulted attorneys Adrian and Ian Anamayah, who had sent notices for the people to remove. Henry said he had told some persons that the land had to be surveyed before it could have been parceled into house lots, which in turn would have been sold.
Subsequently, he met with residents, including Lindo, at his lawyers’ office, where they were shown documents of ownership.
Henry said, his lawyers offered to mediate with the persons who had problems. He added that another meeting was held with Regional Chairman David Armogan, who told the residents that he, the accused, was the owner of the land, and that they should cooperate
As a result, he said, Lindo had abandoned his house and his sister had visited to remove his belongings about four to five months before the incident.
Henry said after taking a picture of Lindo’s empty house, he took the photograph to his attorney, who ordered that he break the house down.
He then contacted O’Brien, who hired four persons to demolish the shack.
At 1.30pm, Henry said he went over to Meena’s shop to buy soap powder to deal with the infestation of the bees, and wasps on the premises. He added that it was while the demolition crew was engaged that a woman, armed with a cutlass, arrived and threatened to chop the crew unless they stopped. Henry said his workers were scared and he then went into the yard and warned the woman to desist because he was the owner of the property.
On the advice of attorney Edmonson, Henry said he telephoned the police but was told no vehicle was available for them to respond. He added that it was during this period that someone alerted him that Lindo was running towards him with an axe.
Meanwhile, O’Brien, a defence witness, responding to questions by State Counsel Natasha Backer, admitted that he never mentioned the cow pen and a water tank in his police statement nor did he mention previously that the woman was firing chops with a cutlass.
After being shown the crime scene pictures, the witness was unable to identify the location of the tank and the cow pen.
Under re-examination by defence attorney Kim Kyte, O’Brien said he had told the police that the accused had slipped. He said he did not read the police statement as the writing was too fine. Nevertheless, he admitted telling the police about the tanks and the pen. The police, he further said, did read the statement to him and those words were read.
The trial is continuing.
