Abishai Caesar has been convicted for the 2012 murders of Anna Catherina businesswoman Jennifer Persaud and her two sons, Afridi Bacchus and 18-month-old Jadon Persaud.
Following hours of deliberations, a jury yesterday afternoon found Caesar guilty of the triple-murder, which he carried out during a robbery at the woman’s Sea View, Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara home between September 21 and September 22, 2012.
It is the second trial the former barber faced, since his first ended in a hung jury back in 2019.
Justice Sandil Kissoon, who presided over the trial, deferred sentencing until June 16, to facilitate the presentation of a probation report.
The case for the prosecution was that Caesar, who was the woman’s neighbour, had gone over to her place to rob her and ended up killing her and her sons.
State Counsel Lisa Cave had said in her address to the jury at the commencement of the trial that it was Caesar’s common-law wife, Zoey Phillips, who told investigators that her husband had revealed to her that it was he who had murdered Persaud and her two boys.
Caesar was represented by defence attorney Rachael Bakker.
The trial was heard at the High Court in Georgetown.
Phillips had testified that between September 21 and 22, 2012, she and Caesar were asleep in their bedroom when she heard a noise coming from next door, which caused her and the now-convict to go to their verandah and they saw three men fighting outside of Persaud’s shop.
The woman had said that she then saw Persaud come out of the shop and stop the men from fighting.
She said that she was not sure what time it was but both she and Caesar went back to the bedroom. Phillips testified that she heard some more noise and returned to the verandah where she noticed that Persaud’s shop was closed.
The witness had told the court that later Caesar told her that he was going over to “Jenny’s” shop to get some money. It was after midnight.
Phillips said that she subsequently accompanied him downstairs to the kitchen in the home, where he collected a small wooden handled knife and a pair of gloves.
She said he was only wearing a green pants at the time; and added that they both went outside through the back door to go to the back of the house, where Caesar went through Persaud’s zinc fence, which had a crease in it.
Phillips testified that she returned to the bedroom and minutes later, looked through the window where she saw Caesar looking as though he was going upstairs in the home as she could have seen through Jennifer’s window.
The witness had further stated that after she saw Caesar going up the stairs in the home, she went back to the bed and fell asleep but subsequently heard what sounded like a female’s scream, which caused her to jump out of her sleep and sit on the bed. She said that minutes later, she heard Caesar call for her as she was still in bed.
Phillips had said that she then went downstairs into the kitchen and opened the back door of the house and the defendant then came in with a small cardboard beer box stating that that was all he got.
She recalled that the box had money in $20 and $100 bills, which amounted to about $3,000.
Phillips told the court that Caesar related to her that he had to kill Persaud because she woke up and saw him and knows him very well.
Following the announcement of jury’s verdict yesterday, Caesar continued to profess his innocence.
