DPP files notice to appeal acquittal of murder accused

Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, has filed a notice at the Guyana Court of Appeal expressing her desire to appeal the acquittal of Neville Chandrawattie, who had been accused of murdering a gold and diamond dealer back in 2007.

On December 1, 37-year-old Chandrawattie was acquitted of the murder charge after Justice Jo-Ann Barlow upheld a no-case submission and directed a 12-member jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Chandrawattie, called “Sunil”, of Sparta, Essequibo Coast, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), was initially charged in December 2013 and remanded to prison for the April 21, 2007 murder of gold and diamond dealer Dharam Chanmangra. Media reports are that on the day in question, gunmen carried out a robbery at El Dorado Trading at Port Kaituma, Region One (Barima-Waini). The company was owned by businessman Tamesh Jagmohan. During the ordeal, Chanmangra was shot and killed. It was reported that the men escaped with cash and millions of dollars in raw gold.
Following a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) in 2017, a city Magistrate ruled that there was sufficient evidence against Chandrawattie to put him on trial for the capital offence. As such, the then murder accused was committed to stand trial at the Demerara High Court.
In May 2016, Chandrawattie pleaded guilty to several charges concerning a gold heist that occurred at the El Dorado Trading Company in November 2013. Reports indicate that he was identified as the mastermind.
He was charged with robbery- under-arms, wounding, and gun and ammunition possession. He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment on each of the first two charges, and five years’ imprisonment on each of the other two charges. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently. (G1)