Relatives of five victims of the 2008 Bartica Massacre yesterday testified about identifying the bodies of their loved ones to pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who performed autopsies.
The witnesses were at the time testifying at the trial of Mark Royden Williams, Dennis Williams, called ‘Anaconda’, and Roger Simon, who have been indicted for the murders.
The charge against the trio is that on February 17, 2008, at Bartica, they murdered Lance Corporal Zaheer Zakir and Constables Shane Fredericks and Ron Osborne, Edwin Gilkes, Dexter Adrian, Irving Ferreira, Deonarine Singh, Ronald Gomes, Ashraf Khan, Abdool Yasseen, Errol Thomas, and Baldeo Singh.
They have pleaded not guilty to the capital indictments.
Testifying yesterday were Arif Ali-Khan, Pancham Singh, Norma Fredericks, Amrita Thomas and Toolsie Persaud.
Ali-Khan and Persaud, recounted visiting the morgue at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) on February 20, 2008, where they identified to Dr Singh, the bodies of their brother Ashraf and brother-in-law Deonarine respectively, for autopsies to be conducted.
Fredericks, mother of slain Police Constable Shane Fredericks, recounted witnessing Dr Singh performing a post-mortem examination on her son’s remains. She said the examination was done on February 19, 2008, also at the GPH morgue.
Identifying Constable Ron Osborne was his cousin, Amrita.
She told the court, that after being informed that a relative needed to identify the body to Dr Singh, she was the one in her family who volunteered to go to the morgue, made the identification and witnessed the autopsy.
Meanwhile, Pancham recalled identifying his uncle Baldeo’s remains to Dr Singh for autopsy.
The witnesses also testified to the bodies of their respective loved ones being handed over to their families for burial after the autopsies had been conducted.
Last Thursday, relatives of Yasseen, Ferreira and Lance Corporal Zakir, recounted identifying their bodies to Dr Singh for autopsies.
The trial continues this morning at 9, before Justice Roxane George and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
The State’s case is that on the night in question, the three accused, in the company of others, launched a murderous attack on the community and the police station at Bartica, with wanton disregard for human life, which left three police officers dead.
The State is represented by Prosecutor Diana Kaulesar, in association with Prosecutor Stacy Goodings. Meanwhile, defence attorneys Peter Hugh, Saphier Hussain, and Roger Yearwood are representing Simon, Dennis Williams and Mark Williams, respectively.
