Terani Goolsarran, the Corentyne man who was charged with murdering a 14-year-old boy in 2016, yesterday walked out of the High Court in Berbice a free man, after a no-case submission made on his behalf was upheld by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow.
Goolsarran, 26, a construction worker of Number 60 Village, Corentyne, had been charged with the murder of Akeem Grimmond, of Lot 53 Section B, Number 61 Village, Corentyne, in August, 2016.
He was freed after state-appointed attorney Sasha Roberts, who appeared on behalf of Goolsarran, presented a no-case submission, which the judge upheld.
The state’s case was presented by Tuanna Hardy, who called a total of 12 witnesses. However, at the end of the state’s case, the judge found that a sufficient case was not made out to go to the jury since there was no physical or circumstantial evidence put forth linking the accused to the murder.
According to pathologist Dr. Vivekanand Bridgemohan’s testimony yesterday, drowning was a possible cause of Grimmond’s death. The doctor had noted that the teen’s lungs were filled with mud. The doctor said that based on the state of decomposition of the lad’s body, he had to have been dead some five days before it was discovered.
At the time of his disappearance, Grimmond was residing with his mother and step-father.
The couple had filed a missing person’s report on Saturday 20th, August, 2016. His body was discovered on Monday 22nd, August, 2016, after his mother had told persons that she had a dream that her son was in the burial ground. After checks were made, the lad’s body was discovered in the drain of the burial ground.
Police arrested Goolsarran after his girlfriend claimed that he told her that he noticed the boy’s relatives setting up a tent and that they would have to buy coffee and biscuits to take for the wake, since he was dead. However, in her statement to the police, she claimed that the man confessed to killing the lad.
The woman did not testify to this during the preliminary inquiry into the charge at the magistrate’s court. In the High Court, the woman claimed that the man said he killed the lad, then she later testified that he did not say that.
In her testimony the woman also admitted that she and the accused did not have a good relationship and that shortly after he was arrested she moved in with another partner.
Goolsarran spent two years in prison before being freed yesterday.
