Former El Dorado Trading Company General Manager Neville Chandrawattie, was yesterday afternoon discharged of the 2007 murder of his co-worker, gold and diamond dealer Dharam Chanmangra, after High Court Judge Jo-Ann Barlow upheld a no-case submission the man’s attorney made.
Chandrawattie called ‘Sunil,’ was on trial before a jury at the High Court in Demerara, for the charge which stated that on April 21st, 2007 he murdered Chanmangra during a robbery at the El Dorado Trading Company, Port Kaituma.
Following the conclusion of a voir dire, Justice Barlow said that the police failed to accurately annotate a caution statement (CS) they claim the accused had given.
Against that background, she said it is unfair to leave words from the alleged statement — the accuracy of which police could not confirm — to be considered and decided upon by the jury.
In the circumstances, the judge upheld a no-case submission which defence attorney Siand Dhurjon had made.
The State was represented by Prosecutor Cicelia Corbin.
Chandrawattie and others were alleged to have planned and carried out the attack on the El Dorado Trading Company in Port Kaituma, during which Chanmangra was shot in the chest and $3 million and a quantity of gold were stolen.
Back in 2016, Chandrawattie of Esse-quibo and Anil Dairam of Lot 52 Blair-mont, West Bank Berbice threw themselves at the mercy of the Magistrates’ Court after admitting to committing a brazen $93 million gold heist at the Company in 2013.
They were among the four persons who were charged with the heist.
It was during investigations for the 2013 robbery that Chandrawattie was arrested and charged for the 2007 murder of Chanmangra.
Chandrawattie was identified as the mastermind in the 2013 heist.
He was charged with committing the robbery, wounding and possession of gun and ammunition. With regard to the first two charges he was sentenced to four years each. He was also sentenced to five years each for the other two.
Magistrate Alex Moore who presided over those matters, had ordered that all the sentences run concurrently.
