Former minimart employee freed of murder charge

Matthew Parks, who had been on trial for the murder of Roger Allen, whom he had allegedly stabbed to death in 2018, has been freed of the charge after a no-case submission was upheld by Justice Sandil Kissoon in the Demerara High Court on Thursday, April 20.
Parks, a 24-year-old minimart employee of East La Penitence, Georgetown, was accused of stabbing Allen to death on September 13, 2018 at the corner of Durban and Chapel Streets in Lodge, Georgetown.
From the onset of the trial, Parks had pleaded not guilty to the charge before Justice Sandil Kissoon and a mixed 12-member jury; and his attorney, Damien DaSilva, made a no-case submission after the key witness in the matter refused to testify.
DaSilva asked the court to dismiss the charge brought against his client, while stating that the prosecution had failed to present its case. The prosecution was led by State Counsel Cicelia Corbin.
It was reported that, on the day in question, Roger Allen, a former Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) employee, was stabbed twice in his arm during a row that erupted after he had reportedly gone to a minimart in the area to settle an argument he had had with Parks, who was employed at the minimart.
According to the Police, Parks had been on duty at the minimart when Allen went to make a purchase, and the two men had had an argument. Allen left the minimart and returned with a knife and a piece of wood around the time that Parks was about to leave his workplace. He attacked Parks, and both men sustained injuries in the process. They were escorted to the GPHC, where Allen underwent emergency surgery for two stab wounds, but later succumbed.