A jury yesterday found a young West Berbice cane harvester guilty of killing his former partner.
Shazam Khalil, 23, of 53 Shieldstown, West Bank Ber-bice, was on trial before Justice Ann Barlow and a 12-member jury that found him guilty of murdering Sheniza Mohamed, 19, of Edinburgh Housing Scheme, East Bank Berbice.
The jury came back with a unanimous decision in less than two hours.
Khalil is to return to the New Amsterdam High Court on August 19 for sentencing.
During the trial, Khalil’s lawyer Tajenarine Ramroop had made a claim of self defence for his client, however it was rejected.
The trial saw state attorney Stacy Goodings presenting seven witnesses. Goodings told the court that the teenage Mohamed was ambushed and stabbed by Khalil, who later fled. She had explained that the teen was picked up and rushed to the Fort Wellington Hospital and was later transferred to the New Amsterdam Public Hospital, where she succumbed to her injuries.
The state’s witnesses included Police Constable Orwin Barton, who testified that he along with a team of policemen arrested Khalil at his home on January 18, 2015. According to Barton, Khalil had showed the officers present at the time an injury to his eye which he claimed to have sustained during an altercation with Mohamed.
