Aaron Hing, godbrother of British teenager, Dominic Bernard, will face trial at the High Court in Berbice over the murder of the teenager in 2015 at Kildonan, Corentyne, after a not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf at the court yesterday.
Hing, who is being represented by attorney-at-law, Sanjeev Datadin, had initially pleaded guilty to the crime at the beginning of yesterday’s hearing. However, after his summary of the incident, Justice Sandil Kissoon was forced to enter a not-guilty plea after Hing basically labelled himself a victim in the matter. The trial is to begin this morning.
After Hing’s initial guilty plea yesterday, attorney-at-law, Latchmie Rahamat, who was appointed special prosecutor in the matter, in her summary of the facts explained that Bernard, 18, had arrived in Guyana on October 14, 2015, and was uplifted from the airport by Hing and his friend, George in a rented car.
After leaving the airport, the trio went to a restaurant where they bought food and proceeded to Kildonan School Dam. At that location, the men walked a short distance away from a three-and-a-half-foot grave, which was dug the day before by them.
According to the special prosecutor, Hing indicated to investigators that he wanted to “get back at” Bernard, who he claimed caused him to be arrested in London, and so hatched a plan and told George that they would rob Bernard since he was expected to arrive with a sum of cash.
Hing was arrested on January 8, 2016, after Bernard’s father had visited Guyana on January 2, 2016, to enquire about his son’s whereabouts since he had not heard from him since leaving England.
After speaking to both Hing and his mother, Bernard’s father, sought assistance from members of the Guyana Police Force as Hing had claimed that he did not uplift Bernard from the airport back in October, 2015.
According to the special prosecutor, hours before Hing’s arrest, police had discovered the shallow grave with a decomposed body which was later identified to be Bernard following DNA testing.
The court heard that it was after Hing left his mother’s house that he asked his ‘childmother’ to move Bernard’s belongings from the back of his mother’s house, and had asked a friend to retrieve the items and discard them.
The persons mentioned are all presently before the court as they were charged with being accessories after the fact. These
persons were instrumental in helping investigators retrieve the victim’s belongings.
Meanwhile, in a turn of events yesterday, Hing when questioned by Justice Kissoon, insisted that he did not agree with the facts as presented by Rahamat after pleading guilty to the murder. According to him, after he and George picked up Bernard from the airport, the trio smoked some ganja and had some pills after which they proceeded to a location where they then had some drinks.
After Hing presented his version of what had transpired, Justice Kissoon entered a not guilty plea after which a jury was immediately selected with the trial expected to commence this morning.
