Found guilty last month and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a fisherman, whose body he buried in the Number 68 Village, Corentyne backlands, Munilall Sarjoo has appealed his conviction.
In the grounds of his appeal, lodged with the Guyana Court of Appeal, Sarjoo, called ‘Baby’ and ‘Long Hair,’ is complaining that the trial judge did not adequately put his defence to the jury.
According to him, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall also made several other legal errors, among which he says was her rejection of his attorney’s no-case submission at both the close of his and the prosecution’s case.
Sarjoo (the Appellant), says, too, that the judge erred in law when she failed to put to the jury and instruct it on the guidelines for identification, in accordance with case law authority and precedent.
He contends, too, that Justice Morris-Ramlall erred by explaining to the jury that he did not give sworn testimony which would have allowed for his story to be scrutinized under cross-examination by the prosecution.
The appellant complains, too, that the trial judge erred in saying to the jury that he had said nothing, after being administered a caution by police conducting the investigations.
The implication of this, the appellant argues, would have left the jury with the impression that he was bound to deny the allegation at that stage, and that his failure to do so could be used against him; rather than pointing out that it was a right accorded to him, if he wished to be silent.
Early last month a jury convicted Sarjoo of the August 24, 2016 murder of Levan Chanderpaul, formerly of Lot 116 Number 68 Village, who was found bound with chop wounds about his body, two days after he was reported missing.
An autopsy revealed that the 26-year-old died after sustaining a fractured skull.
The judge has ordered that Sarjoo must serve 25 years before becoming eligible for parole.
