Oliver Permaul, Andre James and Rohan Johnson were yesterday discharged over the 2017 murder of Tain mother Leilawatie Mohamed, after High Court Judge Jo-Ann Barlow found no evidence against them.
The judge noted that there was no evidence against Permaul and that the alleged caution statement which police investigators said they got from James and Johnson—had not been freely and voluntarily obtained and were therefore deemed inadmissible.
The judge would later uphold no-case submissions which had been made on behalf of the accused by their respective attorneys.
Justice Barlow found that former Inspector of Police Dexter Thornton and Lance Corporal Emanuel Davidson had not been frank with the Court and did not disclose the full circumstances as to the truth of the taking of the statement.
“The Court did not find Thornton to be truthful and credible. He was less than candid. He left many questions unanswered,” the Judge said.
Following the judge’s pronouncements, Prosecutor Abigail Gibbs said that the state would close its case, as the written and oral caution statements were the sole evidence on which it was relying against James and Johnson.
Meanwhile, as regards Permaul, Gibbs said that there was no evidence on the deposition, nor was there any witness who could be called against him.
James and Johnson had alleged that they had been severely beaten to give the alleged caution statement, by former police officer Lawrence Thomas.
Gibbs noted that Thomas had not been called to testify as he was no longer a serving member of the Guyana Police Force and that the prosecution had also been able to confirm that he had migrated.
After upholding the no-case submissions, Justice Barlow directed the jury to formally return verdicts of not guilty for the trio.
Permaul was represented by attorney Ravindra Mohabir, Johnson by attorney Sasha Roberts and James by attorney Tanya Warren-Clements.
The trial was heard at the High Court in Berbice.
Following the murder, the trio had been charged along with Oliver’s wife; Nazima Permaul, and a fifth person—Shabiki Alert Thompson
In 2018, however, a magistrate discharged the case against Nazima and Thompson; as well as Indira Outar—the woman who was charged with allegedly procuring the five persons to murder Mohamed.
The magistrate had ruled that the prosecution failed to prove that Outar had any meeting with the five accused before the murder, or that she had issued payments to any of them.
On February 7th, 2017, two men, clad in black, invaded the Lot 149, Sixth Street, Tain Settlement, Corentyne home of the 45-year-old domestic worker after kicking down the front door.
The men demanded cash from Mohamed and when she said she did not have any money to give, the gunman placed the gun to her chin and shot her at close range, killing her instantly.
A subsequent investigation by police determined that Mohamed’s murder was not a robbery but a planned “hit.”
