Jury acquits man accused of killing former father-in-law

Zaheer Hussein of Riverview, Ruimveldt, Georgetown, who had been on trial for murdering his former father-in-law Alexi Gomes, called Dino, during a scuffle on June 21, 2020, has been acquitted by a jury.
Upon his arraignment earlier this month before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall in the Demerara High Court, Hussein had pleaded not guilty to a charge which alleged that he murdered 54-year-old Alexi Gomes, called “Dino”, on Father’s Day, June 21, 2020.

Following deliberations on Wednesday, the 12-member jury panel announced that it had arrived at unanimous not-guilty verdicts in favour of Hussein for both the capital offence of murder and the lesser count of manslaughter.
Accordingly, Justice Morris-Ramlall discharged Hussein and informed him that he was free to leave the court.
Hussein had been represented by Attorneys-at-Law Dexter Smartt, Dexter Todd and Jevon Cox, while State Counsels Muntaz Ali, Taneisha Saygon and Simran Gajraj had been prosecutors in the case.
It had been reported that on the day in question, Gomes had left his residence at Lot 6 Riverview, Ruimveldt to go buy beer at a nearby shop when he saw his grandson in the company of his former son-in-law Zaheer Hussain and he stretched out his arms to hug the child.

Hussein had reportedly got angry and punched Gomes, and in the ensuing scuffle between the two men, Hussein had picked up a piece of wood and dealt Gomes several lashes to his head. Gomes had fallen unconscious, and was picked up by a relative and taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), where he was treated before being transferred to a private hospital, where he later died. A post-mortem examination performed on Gomes revealed that the cause of his death was blunt trauma to the head.
At the time of his demise, Gomes had been visiting from New York, United States of America (USA), and had been prevented from returning there because international airports had been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (G1)