7 on trial for murder of Meten-Meer-Zorg businessman

Seven persons, including a woman, on Tuesday denied killing Zulfikar Namdar, called “Vickey, at his family’s grocery store at their Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara (WCD) home.
In a tense and packed courtroom, the murder accused were all indicted for the September 10, 2013 robbery-murder of the 20-year-old man.
Allan Dorsett, called “Baird”; Delwayne Croft; Esan Lawrence, called “Muscle”; Jermaine Williams, called “Yankee”; Andrew Chandler, called “Sonic”; Samuel Bacchus, called “Kirk”; and Cassandra Singh-Dorsett all entered pleas of not guilty in the presence of their Attorneys Nigel Hughes, Ashley Henry, Adrian Thompson, and George Thomas.
Hughes and Henry are representing the number one accused Dorsett while Thompson is representing Williams, Chandler and Bacchus.
Meantime, Thomas is appearing for Croft, Lawrence and Singh-Dorsett. Attorneys Tuanna Hardy, Abigail Gibbs and Teriq Mohammed are prosecuting the case presided over by Justice Navindra Singh.

The trial commenced following the prosecution’s opening address which reminded the jury of their duty to impartiality.
Among the first set of witnesses were the victim’s parents who recalled seeing their son’s lifeless body in a pool of blood after gunmen raided the home.
Namdar’s mother, Fazila Namdar, who was on the verge of tears recalled that she, her grandson and driver were forced to lay face down after two bandits invaded and demanded to see the business owner. Her husband, Goolzar, testified that he was hiding when he heard the bullets. He, nevertheless, saw a tall male sporting a cap.
Fazila said she handed over a kit containing $1.3 million in cash, several pieces of jewellery and her passport. Steven Mohamed, who was packing drinks aback the store, also recalled coming face to face with the gunmen, who had asked for the “boss man”, but he said he had not known where he was.
All three witnesses pointed out the number five accused, Andrew Chandler, who lived a few houses away from the store and was working as a labourer at a nearby masjid which was under construction. Chandler was nearly in tears as he was being identified.