“Curl up” for High Court trial over taxi driver’s killing

Magistrate Faith McGusty on Friday ruled that a prima facie case had been made out against 40-year-old Osafa Grundell for him to stand trial at the High Court for the April 30, 2019 unlawful killing of taxi driver Marlon Rodney formerly of Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown.
Following the conclusion of a Preliminary Inquiry (PI), Magistrate McGusty held that Grundell, called “Curl Up”, who was initially charged for murder, will be committed to stand trial for the lesser offence of manslaughter, at the next practicable sitting of the Demerara assizes.
In 2019, Grundell along with 22-year-old James Fraser called “Damo” were charged with Rodney’s murder. The Magistrate, however, discharged Fraser on Friday after ruling that a sufficient case was not made out against him by the prosecution.
According to reports, between April 25 and April 30, last, at Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown, the taxi driver was involved in a heated argument with three men. It is alleged that the men whipped out guns after the row escalated and discharged several rounds at Rodney, who was hit in the left leg.
The injured man was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where Rodney later succumbed. A few months after the killing, Rodney’s cousin, Collin, who was the main witness in the PI, went missing after making his way to court to testify.
Police would later discover the burnt remains of the 36-year-old missing man in the trunk of his silver-grey Toyota Allion bearing registration number PRR 1076.