Deportee faces jury for Corentyne shallow grave murder

The trial into the murder and burial in a shallow grave of a Corentyne labourer opened on Thursday at the Berbice Assize before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall.
On trial is 51-year-old Munilall Sarjoo, called “Baby”, or “Long hair”, a livestock farmer of Number 67 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

The deportee is accused of murdering Levan Chandarpaul of Number 68 Village Corentyne between August 22 and 26, 2016.
State Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy told the jury that Chandarpaul was last seen in the company of Sarjoo. She said the prosecution has set out to prove that the accused killed Chandarpaul, bound his hands behind his back, tied his feet, and buried him in a shallow grave.
Government Pathologist Dr Vivekanand Bridgemohan, in his evidence, said the death was as a result of a fractured skull and internal bleeding in the skull.
He told the jury that he discovered during the autopsy that there were two fractures to the skull, with one being fragmented. Those injuries, he said, were consistent with someone being hit with a blunt instrument. He suggested that a piece of wood could have been used

The pathologist also described other injuries to the head of the deceased, and informed the jury that there was debris in the trachea. This, he said, was evidence that the victim was alive when the injuries were inflicted.
The prosecutor’s key witness also took to the witness box on the opening day of the trial. This witness, a fisherman of Number 67 Village, told the jury that on August 22, 2016 he had a conversation with Chandarpaul in front of his yard, and when Chandarpaul was departing, he told him to keep his bicycle and he can use it. The witness said he saw when Chandarpaul went into Sarjoo’s car, which drove away with him.
Asked whether he knew that Chandarpaul was missing, he responded in the affirmative, but noted that he was not a part of any search party that had looked for him. He said he went into the backdam when the body was found, and he told the jury that Chandarpaul’s body was clad in the same clothes he had been wearing when he had last seen him.
Under cross-examination by defence attorney Rohan Jagmohan, the witness said he does not know the registration plate number of Sarjoo’s car, nor can he say what was the brand of the car. However, the witness maintained that he knows the car Sarjoo owned, and when Chandarpaul had entered the car, he was able to see that Sarjoo was seated inside the vehicle.
He admitted that it was not until March of 2017 that he had provided that information to the Police, some seven months after the alleged incident, and denied that he had made up the story to save himself, since he was also a suspect in the murder.
Under re-examination, this witness told the court that he did not tell that story to the Police in Berbice, but rather those at CID Headquarters because “the Police in Georgetown is more top.”
Two officers from the Major Crimes Unit also took the witness stand, and both of them said they were present during a confrontation between the prosecution’s key witness and Sarjoo.
Ten witnesses were called on the first day of this trial. Among them were the parents of the deceased. The trial continues next Tuesday. (G4)