A 12-member jury yesterday convicted Marissa George and John Caesar, the two persons charged with the 2009 robbery and attempted murder of businesswoman Dhanwantie Phulchand in an attack in the City Mall.
George and Caesar were tried at the High Court for attempting to murder Phulchand, owner of Rishma’s Collection, on the afternoon of July 4th, 2009.
Additionally, they were also tried on the charge that they robbed her of $527,000, a purse and a shirt and being violent to her during the alleged robbery.
However, prior to his summation yesterday, Justice Sandil Kissoon made an application to amend the amount of money stated in the charge, since the evidence pointed to a different amount. Observing that neither of their clients would be prejudiced, the attorneys for George and Caesar made no objection to the amendment.
The charge was then amended to read that the duo, on July 4th, 2009, robbed Phulchand of US$2000, GY$100,000, a purse and a shirt and being violent to her during the alleged robbery.
After a lengthy summation of the trial, the jury retired for deliberation and about two hours later returned to present its verdicts.
Both George and Caesar then heard that on the count of attempted murder they were found guilty of the crime, by a proportion of 11 jurors to 1 for each accused.
Subsequently, they were told that on the count of robbery with violence, they were also found guilty by majority verdicts. The jury found George guilty by a proportion of 10 to 2, while it found Caesar guilty by a proportion of 11-1.
Having heard the decision of the jury, the duo stood emotionless in the court dock.
Justice Kissoon then thanked members of the jury and informed the court that the matter was adjourned until October 26th for the presentation of probation reports for the defendants and sentencing.
The state’s case was led by Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs.
Phulchand, in her testimony during the trial, recalled leaving her home sometime after six that morning and going to do a foreign currency exchange transaction before heading to open her boutique for business.
She told the court that sometime after four on the afternoon of the attack, George, whom she knew as a frequent Saturday visitor to the mall, entered her boutique.
She said the young woman told her that she wanted to purchase pants but later left, saying she was going to get her friend to help her make a choice. Shortly after, the witness said, George returned with Caesar, whom she also knew as a worker in one of the other shops in the mall.
She said that as she spoke with the man, George by that time had already selected a pair of jeans with Caesar’s assistance and had gone into the dressing room to try them on.
The court heard that the female accused came out of the dressing room shortly after and requested a bigger size.
Phulchand said that as she knelt on a low clothes rack to retrieve another pair of jeans for the young woman, she felt a sudden blow to her head, which caused her to fall flat on the ground.
The woman said that in shock she would later realise that it was Caesar who was standing over her as he unleashed a beating on her with a heavy object, which was concealed in a bag.
The woman said that during the bloodied thrashing, she begged the man to leave her alone, while George held her neck down with one of her feet.
The woman, who said that she urinated herself, begged them to take whatever they wanted, and leave her alone as she was the mother of an infant. But she claimed her cries were ignored as the two continued to beat her.
Phulchand said she lost consciousness for some time. After she woke up, she said she felt for her phone and some cash she had in her pockets, but discovered that they were all missing.
She said that the bag into which she had earlier placed money after completing her earlier transaction that morning was lying next to her on the ground but it was empty.
By that time, the witness said that her attackers had already left the store.
