At Tuesday’s session into the Travis McDougal High Court case, trial Judge Justice Navindra Singh admitted into evidence, the Police caution statement in which the accused chronicled events surrounding the shooting death of a businessman. The statement being ruled “admissible” ended a voir dire (trial within a trial) which saw witnesses testifying in the absence of the jury.
Accused: Travis McDougal on trial for murder
McDougal is accused of killing 43-year-old dredge owner Ashok Raghu outside the Botanical Gardens on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown in August 2014, in the alleged execution of a robbery with an accomplice. At Tuesday’s trial, Police Superintendent Michael Kingston who was attached to the Brickdam Police Station that year, read out the caution statement that McDougal allegedly gave Police.
The jury heard that McDougal knew his accomplice, Jermaine Otto, called “Fungus”, from the time they attended Lodge Secondary School together. Otto was said to have asked the accused to drop him in Kitty, Georgetown, since McDougal had a driver’s licence.
According to McDougal’s recounting of the night’s events, when the two were on the motorcycle and had reached the traffic light at Regent and Vlissengen Roads, Otto got off of the motorcycle and proceeded to a car.
“All I hear is shots,” the accused allegedly stated, further adding that he later heard that the man died and his wife was shot. Otto contacted him and reportedly said: “I hope my name ain’t get call.”
Superintendent Kingston further testified that McDougal signed the caution statement six times, adding that the accused was not handcuffed when he had done so. The Police witness further told the court that the accomplice, Jermaine Otto, was subsequently arrested after intelligence was passed on to investigative ranks.
Under cross-examination by McDougal’s defence attorney, Nigel Hughes, Superintendent Kingston was asked if a confrontation should have been held between Otto and McDougal. Kingston stated he was not aware if this was done. Hughes suggested that Kingston took McDougal upstairs alone to interrogate him but the Police witness scoffed at these suggestions.
However, as the cross-examination continued, Superintendent Kingston could not name nor give the ranks of the few other officers who were present at the time he took the accused in for questioning. Nevertheless, the Police witness maintained that McDougal was not tortured in his presence, whether by electric shock or by other methods. Later in the trial, Inspector of Police, Devon Lowe, who was also attached to Brickdam, testified to the investigations which he carried out.
It was in July 2015 that McDougal was committed to stand trial for murder, along with porkknocker Jermaine Otto. However, McDougal stands before Judge and jury alone as Otto was one of the prisoners that perished in the deadly Camp Street Prison fire, following riots in March 2016. McDougal, of East Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, Georgetown, and his accomplice were both accused of killing Raghu on August 18, 2014, during the furtherance of a robbery of $4 million, committed on the now deceased man and his wife, Shyrazadi. It was on Friday last that State Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh testified that Raghu died from a perforated lung due to a gunshot. It is believed at the time of the robbery, that one of the men had grabbed a haversack containing $4 million, but Raghu’s wife held onto the haversack and was shot in the thigh. The State’s case is being led by Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy with assistance from fellow Prosecutor Siand Dhurjohn. The trial continues before Justice Navindra Singh at the Demerara High Court. (Shemuel Fanfair)
