Ganga Kishna and Avishkar Bissoon were yesterday morning freed of murder charges which alleged that they had had set fire to a Robb Street building, killing a father and his two young daughters.
They were each arraign-ed on three separate counts of the capital offence for the deaths of Hilrod Thomas, 63, and his two young daughters—Clarissa and Theresa Rozario, 14 and 12 respectively.
The men’s respective attorneys had made no–case submissions which were upheld by trial judge, Justice Brassington Reynolds, who said that the prosecution failed to prove its case against them.
In the circumstances, upon the direction of the judge, the jury was ordered to formally return a verdict of not guilty, acquitting the former accused.
It was on November 17th, 2014, that the Robb and King streets home of Hilrod and his daughters was set ablaze. While the two girls died the same day, their father died later while hospitalised.
Kishna and Bissoon were subsequently charged with murdering them in the course or furtherance of arson in relation to a dwelling house. Thomas succumbed in hospital on December 21st that year.
In his detailed ruling on the submissions made by defence attorneys Dexter Todd and Latchmie Rahamat, Justice Reynolds noted among other things that the state had failed to establish the vital element of arson which he said was the “building block” upon which the circumstantial evidence rested and from which the murders were said to have been caused.
He explained that there was no nexus between the accused and the fire and the resultant deaths; even as he emphasized that the evidence was insufficient to support the indictment levelled against the men.
In his admonition to the former accused, Justice Reynolds said he hoped that they had learnt from the experience they have faced, having been charged and incarcerated and to go on with their lives staying away from trouble.
Before informing the men who joined the hearing virtually from the Lusignan Prison, that they would be free to go, the judge said that only they and God know exactly what transpired on that fateful night.
Ganga was represented by Todd and Bissoon by Rahamat.
The state’s case was presented by Prosecutor Sarah Martin.
The prosecution’s case had been that Kishna, called ‘Buddie’ and ‘Scientist,’ and Bissoon, acted together in causing the fire to be set to the property which resulted in the three deaths.
Prosecutors had said that as the father and his two daughters slept in the wee hours of November 17th, they were fatally injured when their Lot 65 King and Robb streets home was deliberately set ablaze.
Clarissa and Theresa died at the scene.
Thomas and his two daughters had lived in the top flat of the three-storey building, while other parts of the building were occupied by small businesses.
According to reports at the time, a person or persons unknown threw Molotov cocktails at the building resulting in the fire.
Zamara Rozario, another daughter of Thomas had also raised the suspicion of arson, relating that in 2009 there was a similar incident which involved persons throwing fireballs at the building. She said a fire had started, but it was quickly extinguished resulting in only a section of the building being burnt.
