Two Corentyne men were freed yesterday over the 2020 murder of Parmanand Lakeram after a no-case submission was upheld in the #51 Magistrate’s Court in Berbice by Senior Magistrate Alex Moore.
According to the particulars of charge, 62-year-old Gobin Balram, a farmer and Jerry Pirtam, 27, a labourer, both of No.67 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, on January 30th 2020 at No.68 Village, Corentyne, murdered Lakeram.
The men had faced a preliminary inquiry on the charge which was initially read to them on February 7th 2020 in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court when they were remanded to prison.
The no-case submission which was made by the defendants’ attorney, Bernard Da Silva on November 9th, 2022 had argued that the prosecution had failed to make a case against them. Magistrate Moore upheld the submission.
Stabroek News had previously reported that after the charge was read to the accused, the prosecution had told the court that Lakeram’s body was found at the Number 68 Village backlands by relatives who said they heard of the shooting and that his body was discovered covered in blood with multiple gunshot wounds.
The prosecution had also said that some of the deceased man’s friends had witnessed the events leading to his death, since they were hiding in bushes when Balram and Pirtam allegedly shot Lakeram over a stolen cow.
