The three men who had been accused of the 2016 murder of Good Hope rice farmers, Mohamed and his wife Jamilla Munir, were yesterday discharged after a Court found that the prosecution had no case against them.
Following a voir dire, Justice Jo-Ann Barlow directed the jury to formally return verdicts of not guilty in favour of Shamudeen Mohamed, called ‘Milo,’ Jason Howard called ‘Smellie’ and Joel Blair.
The Court ruled that the caution statements reportedly given by the trio were inadmissible.
Apart from those statements on which the State sought to rely to prove its case, it had no other evidence to present connecting the accused men to having committed the crime.
In the circumstances, Justice Barlow directed the jury to formally return verdicts of not guilty, thereby discharging the former accused of the capital charges.
Background
The allegation against the trio was that on April 17th, 2016, at Good Hope, they murdered the husband and wife in the course or furtherance of a robbery.
Mohamed, 75, and his wife, 70, were secured in their bedroom when an attempt was made to break into their home which was heavily grilled.
The attackers later set fire to the house.
Residents who were at the scene had told Stabroek News that the bandits scaled the veranda and cut the grill before smashing their way in through a glass door. After they were unable to gain entry to the Munirs’ bedroom, the bandits apparently poured gasoline and lit a fire in front of the couple’s bedroom.
Neighbours said they were alerted by loud screams from the couple and the sound of gas bottles exploding.
Members of a family who lived two doors away said they heard Munir calling for them and saying: “Bandits in house… come quick!” They responded, “Ok Uncle Munir, we coming…”
They had told this newspaper that before they could get there, they heard him shouting again, “They light fire in the place.”
They also heard Jamilla shouting, “Call the police…”
But they did not hear her for too long and assumed that she had probably collapsed before her husband, from the intense heat. They were subsequently found burnt to death.
