Lawyers locked in legal battle in Marcus Bisram murder trial

Legal arguments pertaining to the Marcus Bisram trial continued on Monday at the Whim Magistrate’s Court with both the prosecution and the defence citing sections of the law to support their very differing submissions.

The prosecution is contending that it has the right to call witnesses to take the stand to give evidence during the preliminary inquiry while the defence is contending that since it is a paper committal, the prosecution should not be given the “luxury” of calling witnesses.
These legal submissions were before Magistrate Renita Singh.
The prosecution is contending that it has 15 witnesses to call and the defence only wants to call one witness, and based on the evidence of that witness it might call a second witness.
State Prosecutor Stacey Goodings pointed to Section 71A of the Criminal Law Act, saying that it explains the course by which evidence is to be taken and it gives the prosecution the right to call witnesses.
Goodings noted that the defence has been using the very Section to say the trial should proceed by way of paper committal. She said the State needs to be adequately able to present its case and at the end of the day, it is the prosecution which is burdened with the responsibility to prove that a prima facie case was made out against the accused.

This process, she noted, also gives the defence an opportunity to cross-examine a witness, which is ensuring justice.
According to her, it is the court’s job to ensure that the prosecution builds a prima facie case and as such, the prosecution will need to ensure that all its witnesses are credible.
She also argued that the prosecution has disclosed fully to the court and the defence all evidence that it has.

Defence submissions
However, Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin in response also referred to Section 6 of 71A and noted that the prosecution cannot cross-examine its own witnesses.
He told the court that Section 62 to 68 of the law were made in the 1950s and section 71A is the amendment to those laws which was put into law in 2008. He later explained to reporters what the defence’s position is.
“Which is that statements of the witnesses are marked as exhibits and that is how the deposition is created for any further trial that is to take place if the Magistrate is to find that a prima facie case is made out. What they are trying to say is that the old procedures apply but this amends those procedures. Hence those provisions only apply now so far as they are not inconsistent with Section 71.”
During Monday’s hearing, Datadin said the defence has accepted all of the evidence which the prosecution has indicated that it has and only wants to cross-examine one or two witnesses.
The defence told the court it has the confidence that the court understands the evidence put before it. The defence is contending that it will only take one day to conclude the preliminary inquiry if it is allowed to only call one or two witnesses but it will take forty-five trial days if the evidence is to be taken from fifteen witnesses.
Bisram, Datadin noted, does not need the luxury of hearing all of the evidence in court.
“What has to happen is that they have to mark the witness statements and the person has to be represented by an attorney-at-law. If he is unrepresented then it has to go the long way. For the paper committal, the defence also needs to say who are the persons that they need to cross-examine; so that they only cross-examine those persons. Remember this is not a trial but rather in inquiry to determine if there is enough evidence for a trial. The other thing that must happen is that all the documents, all the tapes, all the pictures and anything that the prosecution would like to make a part of its case must be produced to the court and they also have to be marked.”
Magistrate Renita Singh has set February 10, 2020, as the day she will make a ruling on the submissions.
Both sides are to be ready to proceed depending on which way her ruling goes. Hence, on February 10, at least one witness is expected to take the stand.
Bisram is accused of ordering the death of Fayaz Narinedatt, a carpenter of Number 70 Village Corentyne, on November 30, 2016.
Bisram was initially charged here in absentia, while five others: Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, and Niran Yacoob have also been committed to stand trial for the murder of Faiyaz Narinedatt.