Accused admitted to tying, pushing hotelier under bed – caution statement

“Big Foot” murder trial

The Police Caution Statement (CS) of Bryan “Big Foot” Leitch was read out on Tuesday at the High Court, where the 12-member jury heard that the accused was allegedly “sorry” for his actions.
Leitch is being tried for the murder of South Central Hotel’s owner, Joseph Jagdeo, whose body was found bound and gagged at the guesthouse on November 14, 2013 in Room 10.
Police Sergeant Keith Conway, who assisted with the murder investigation, took the stand before Justice Sandhill Kissoon on Tuesday. The detective, who was stationed at the Grove Police Station, testified that he had taken the accused man from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to the Brickdam Police Station on November 30, 2013 where he put the murder allegation to him.
Conway claimed that Leitch initially responded: “I don’t know anything about any murder.” However, the next day, on December 1, now retired Police Sergeant Phillip Bowman took the CS in his presence.
According to the document which Conway read out in court, Leitch had stated that on the morning in question, Jagdeo came to his room and told him to leave which angered him.
“I was vexed and I tell he and I tie he hand and put a cloth around he mouth and tie it, I push he under the bed and put the room key on the bed. I then go to the office and took out he cell phone; I sorry for what happen, I didn’t go to kill he,” the excerpt from the CS stated.
Under cross-examination, Sergeant Conway observed that he never enquired from Leitch if he could read or write and could not say if Sergeant Bowman made a similar enquiry. However, the witness maintained that the defendant looked at the CS and seemed to be reading it.
Leitch was said to be the last known person to stay in Room 10. The prosecution contends that the accused committed the crime between November 13 and 14, 2013 at South Road, Georgetown.
Now retired Police Sergeant Bowman, a key witness in the case, left for the United States of America in August 2017, and there was no evidence that he returned to Guyana. Several key witnesses have not been presented by the prosecution despite public notices requesting them to appear at court.
State Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, who was able to testify on Tuesday, gave the hotelier’s cause of death as haemorrhage caused by blunt trauma to the head, compounded with suffocation and compression of the neck. The doctor also told the jury that Jagdeo’s neck and spine were fractured.
State Counsels Mandell Moore and Lisa Cave are presenting the prosecution’s case while Leitch is represented by Attorneys Hewley Griffith and Lawrence Harris. Justice Kissoon adjourned the matter to next Monday. (Shemuel Fanfair)