Berbice carpenter’s murder
…for DPP to withdraw murder charge
Roughly one month after US-based businessman Marcus Bisram’s mother Sharmila Inderjali, challenged the Appeal Court’s denial for an urgent hearing; the CCJ has upheld the court’s ruling, signalling that the applicant’s son will have to wait the continuing at a New York holding facility as he continues to fight
Murder accused: Marcus Bisram
extradition to Guyana. Local investigators have accused him of ordering several henchmen to kill Berbice Carpenter Fiyazz Narinedatt and make his November 1, 2016, murder appear as a hit-and-run.
Inderjali, the applicant, petitioned the courts to expedite the judicial process regarding her bid to have the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) withdraw the murder case. State attorneys, however, contend that Bisram’s lawyers have been abusing the court’s process. In late July, Bisram’s mother had to pay $250,000 his court costs to the State when Appeal Court Justice Rishi Persaud and acting Justices, Dr Arif Bulkan and Rafiq Khan denied her application.
She sought an order by the CCJ to grant her special leave against the Appeal Court’s July 31, 2018, decision to dismiss her February 6, 2018, application while Inderjali also wanted the Caribbean-based Justices to abridge the time for which the application can be heard.
She had observed through attorneys Sajeev Datadin and Siand Dhurjon that the Appellate Court “failed to appreciate the uniqueness of the case” and its “special circumstances”. She outlined that the prosecution’s evidence relies on that of a single witness, who is youthful and is of “limited intellect”. The mother said also that the Police never alleged that there is any other evidence against Bisram.
It was in 2017 that she filed proceedings at the High Court before Justice Navindra Singh where she sought an Order Nisi to prohibit the DPP from pursing the murder charge which was instituted on March 7, 2017, against Bisram. Her grounds were that continued prosecution of her son would, among other things, be “unlawful, unconstitutional, malicious, and without legal foundation. This was based on several events that took place during the Preliminary Inquiry.
Radesh Motie, Diadatt Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, Orlando Dickie and Niran Yacoob were the five alleged henchmen who have all been charged for their involvement in the carpenter’s murder. Two of the accused had allegedly confessed to Police that they were ordered by the overseas-based Guyanese businessman to dump the carpenter’s body on the Number 70 Public Road to make his death seem the result of a hit-and-run accident.
Additionally, the businessman’s mother and sister have been accused of offering bribes to Police ranks to “duck the case”. Since commencement of the Preliminary Inquiry in Berbice, several persons have been accused of witness tampering.
Police said Narinedatt’s murder was ordered after he rejected the New York-based Bisram’s sexual advances at a party two years ago. His charges have been laid, several courts cases have been filed in a bid to discontinue the charges but many of the Justices in Guyana have been ruling unfavourably towards Bisram.
