The stepmother of Damian Bissoon who was charged in April with the 2018 Kitty murder of Taj Anthony Jarvis, was yesterday charged along with a neighbour with obstructing the course of justice in relation to the murder and released on $400,000 bail.
The woman, 49-year-old Robin Britton, of Lot 3 Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, and her neighbour, Yanchandra Rambarran, 59, of Lot 12 Public Road, Kitty, both appeared at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan who read the joint charge to them.
According to the particulars of the offence, it is alleged that the duo on Tuesday April 26 at Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, willfully attempted to obstruct the course of justice by making an offer of monetary reward to Ian Mentore for him not to give evidence against Bissoon in relation to the offence of murder.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to the charge.
According to Police Prosecutor, Shundel Chapman, the two defendants and Mentore are known to each other since they all reside in Kitty. On March 30, 2018, Mentore who was at Barr and Alexander Streets, Kitty, saw when 33-year-old Bissoon allegedly stabbed Jarvis during a scuffle which resulted in his death.
On April 26th, 2022, the prosecutor said that Mentore was at home when Britton and Yanchandra visited him and offered him a monetary reward to not testify before the court against Bissoon who was charged with murder.
Although the prosecutor objected to bail on the grounds that the defendants might interfere with other witnesses, they were granted $200,000 bail each and the matter was adjourned until January 11th, 2023.
Britton was represented by attorney George Thomas while Rambarran was represented by attorney Everton Singh-Lammy.
Bissoon, who was on the run for almost four years, had turned himself in to the police in April 2022 and he was then charged and remanded for the murder of Jarvis on April 27 before the same Chief Magistrate.
During the initial court proceedings, it was related to the court that on the night in question, March 30, 2018, the now deceased Jarvis was at Barr and Alexander streets, Kitty, when Bissoon approached him and asked him for money. The now dead man replied “I don’t have money,” which led Bissoon to stab him several times about his body and then flee the scene.
