Cousin recalls gunman fleeing with cellphones after shooting her

Cosmetologist’s murder

Feroma Samwaroo, who witnessed the gunning down of her 19-year-old cousin Ashmini Hariram, has told a jury that the person who shot Hariram escaped with her cell phones in a waiting motorcar.

Samwaroo testified on Monday in the trial of Lennox Wayne, who is accused of murdering the teenager on July 10, 2014 in the county of Demerara.
Upon his arraignment before Justice Sandil Kissoon, Wayne, called ‘Two Colour’, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge. He is being represented by Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, while State Counsels Lisa Cave and Mohammed Ali are appearing for the prosecution.

According to reports, Hariram, a cosmetologist of Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, was shot and killed just after she and her cousin disembarked a minibus in that community. It was reported that a man emerged from a motorcar and, at close range, shot Hariram to the right side of her head before
re-entering the motor car, which sped off.
Media reports are that Wayne gave Police oral statements detailing his role in Hariram’s execution. On September 8, 2014, Wayne was charged with the teenager’s murder, and was remanded to prison.
Led into evidence by the prosecutors, Samwaroo told the 12-member jury that, on the day in question, she and her cousin had left home to pay bills. She recounted that she and Hariram took a minibus to Georgetown, where they made a stop on Main Street, Georgetown to pay some more bills.
According to the witness, thereafter, she and her cousin went in the vicinity of the Guyana Post Office Corporation to purchase “bleaching powder”. They then boarded a Route 44 minibus and headed for Lusignan.
Samwaroo recalled, “While going home, we stopped on the Lusignan Railway, the golf road, and walked in. While walking in, she [Hariram] was going and buy something, and she didn’t have enough money, so I had to give her some money. I went into my bag for the money.
“While I was in the bag taking out the money, someone was in front of her already. When the person was in front of her and I gave her the money…they shot her and she fell. The person took away her cell phones. I started screaming, and the neighbours came out.”
Asked by prosecutor Cave if she had seen the person who shot her relative, Samwaroo replied in the negative, adding that neither did she see the direction in which the car had sped off.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel, the witness said she attended an identification parade concerning this matter, but did not point out anyone.
Meanwhile, Hariram’s neighbour Terry Singh said that on July 10, 2014, at around 11:00h, he was in his yard “doing some gardening and cleaning” when he heard a loud explosion.
Singh said that at first instance he thought that a motorcycle wheel had exploded. But it was not until he heard a relative shouting, “Oh God! Look, Munisha get shoot!” that he realised that his neighbour had been shot.
“…I saw a six-footer guy enter the left passenger side of a burgundy vehicle. He had a silver object in his hand…I assume it was a pistol because of the explosive sound. After he enter the vehicle, I ran to my family and scramble them and get them in the home,” the witness recalled.
Singh said the six-footer guy had on jeans and a cap. He recalled that when he saw Hariram, she was panting for breath and frothing. “There was a wound on her neck. We placed her inside a bedsheet and placed her in the car and took her to the hospital,” he added.
Asked by Hughes if he had seen the face of the six-footer man, Singh replied, “I didn’t see he face. It was just a small glance. I wasn’t paying attention there, because I was doing my work.”
This trial is continuing at the High Court in Demerara. The prosecution has already called more than 10 witnesses.