Advancing that his attorney poorly represented him at a trial which he also contends was unfair, Abishai Caesar who has been sentenced to death for the 2012 murders of Anna Catherina businesswoman Jennifer Persaud and her two sons has filed an appeal.
In a notice of appeal challenging his conviction and sentence which has been lodged with the Guyana Court of Appeal, Caesar, the Appellant, complains of having been poorly represented at the trial, which he describes as unfair.
He cites, too, a “conflict of interest,” while also contending that his sentence was too severe.
His appeal notice only lists the grounds on which he intends to appeal. The bases substantiating those grounds outlined have not yet been laid before the court.
Back in May, a jury had found Caesar guilty of murdering Persaud and her children—Afridi Bacchus and 18-month-old Jadon Persaud—during a robbery at the woman’s Sea View, Anna Catherina, West Coast Demerara home between September 21 and September 22, 2012.
Trial Judge Sandil Kissoon would subsequently impose three death sentences on him.
There has been a de facto moratorium on the application of the death penalty here.
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 that Caesar’s common-law wife, Zoey Phillips, had told investigators that her husband had revealed to her that it was he who had murdered Persaud and her two boys.
Phillips had testified that between September 21 and 22, 2012, she and her husband heard noise coming from next door and upon making checks they saw that three men were fighting outside of Persaud’s shop. After Persaud had stopped the men from fighting, the couple went back to bed. However, she said that later, after midnight, Caesar told her that he was going over to “Jenny’s” shop to get some money.
Phillips said that she subsequently saw Caesar seeming as though he was going upstairs into the home.
She had further stated that after she saw Caesar going up the stairs she went back to the bed and fell asleep. Subsequently, she 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 also told the court that Caesar related to her that he had to kill Persaud because she woke up and saw him and knew him very well.
Caesar’s first trial ended in a hung jury back in 2019.
