Duo freed of Gafoor’s manager’s murder charge

…as Judge upholds no-case submissions

David Outar and Patrick Ross, the two men who were accused of the 2016 murder of Terry Lackhan, a manager at Gafoor’s, walked out of the Demerara High Court as free men on Wednesday after trial Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall upheld no-case submissions made on their behalf by their lawyers.
Following submissions made by defence attorneys Adrian Thompson and Stacy Goodings, Justice Morris-Ramlall directed the mixed 12-member jury to return formal verdicts of not guilty in favour of the two accused men. Accordingly, they were discharged.
State Counsels Muntaz Ali and Simran Gajraj had presented the prosecution’s case.
In upholding the no-case submissions, the judge noted, among other things, that there were issues with the identification parades conducted by the Police. An alleged caution statement given by Ross was thrown out after the Judge ruled that it was not freely and voluntarily made. Moreover,
a “crucial eyewitness” in the case, ‘Beyonce’, walked out of the courtroom before testifying. As such, she was deemed a hostile witness, and her evidence was therefore considered not credible.
This publication understands that Justice Morris-Ramlall did not grant the prosecution an adjournment to contact this witness, nor did she issue an arrest warrant for her.
Outar, 29, of Foulis, East Coast Demerara (ECD); and Ross, 32, formerly of Herstelling, East Bank Demerara (EBD), had been accused of murdering 53-year-old Terry Lackhan on July 21, 2016 during the course or furtherance of a robbery. Reports are that the lifeless body of Lackhan was discovered by a neighbour on the night of July 21, 2016, shortly after a man was reportedly seen exiting his Herstelling, EBD home with several bags.
According to reports, Lackhan’s body was found next to a wardrobe, and a rope had been tied around his neck. Several bottles of tablets and photographs of his family members were also found close to his body. From the evidence, Lackhan’s killers were attempting to stage the scene to make it appear as though he had committed suicide. Lackhan and Outar had been co-workers. (G1)