Marcus Bisram to face Judge and jury over carpenter’s death

Marcus Bisram was on Monday committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of Corentyne, Berbice carpenter Fayaz Narinedatt, which occurred between October 31 and November 1, 2016.

The committal came after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, instructed the Magistrate to reopen the case and commit Bisram.
Last week Magistrate Renita Singh upheld a no-case submission by the defence, thus discharging the murder charge. However, hours later, he was re-arrested.
He was taken back to court on Thursday where the Magistrate said she received a letter from the DPP instructing her to reopen the case and commit Bisram to face a Judge and jury in the High Court.
However, she said she was not going to commit him because she had found that there was not enough evidence.
But State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings argued that the Magistrate is a creature of the statutes and is obligated to adhere to the instructions of the DPP. The Magistrate adjourned the case to get further directions.
On Monday she returned to the Whim Magistrate’s Court and said she has received further directions that she has to comply with the order to commit Bisram to stand trial in the High Court.
However, Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin, who is one of several lawyers appearing for Bisram, asked the court to hold the decision.
He said the court received two letters from the DPP and legally it cannot act on the first letter because it was unlawful.
He argued that after the second letter was issued, the defence is of the view that it has a right to be heard.
In the first letter, the DPP said that there is sufficient evidence and instructed Magistrate Singh to call on the defence. However, in the second letter, the DPP instructed the Magistrate to commit Bisram to stand trial in the High Court.
Datadin, speaking with reporters after Monday’s proceedings, said that he had earlier told the court that the defence had approached the High Court seeking to prove that the first letter was an illegal one and urged the court to wait until that matter is heard on April 15 in the High Court.
He said the defence is not asking the court to disobey the order of the DPP but to stay until the High Court rules.
In his submissions to the court, he requested that the committal order be stayed, adding that it was only on Thursday that the court held out that there was not sufficient evidence to commit Bisram.
He also argued that the Constitution entitles the accused to a fair trial. Hence, he said the court is obligated to wait on the High Court’s decision.
However, in response, State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings reminded the court that the defence was asking the court to disobey the State’s directions. She noted that the court cannot apply a stay as there is no order from the High Court to stay the proceedings.
As such, the Magistrate committed Bisram to stand trial in the High Court before a Judge and a jury.
Meanwhile, in the proceedings, which are before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall, the defence is contending that the first letter which was received by the Magistrate’s Court is an illegal one. Hence, the defence is asking the High Court to squash that letter.
The defence is also contending that the DPP cannot substitute the first letter with the second one.
The DPP and Magistrate Singh have been named as respondents in the High Court.
On March 7, 2017, an arrest warrant was issued for Bisram, who was in the US at the time. The warrant was issued on the allegation that Bisram instructed five other men to kill Narinedatt because the carpenter retaliated when Bisram made sexual advances to him.
In November 2018, he was extradited to Guyana after a US Appeal Court two months prior ordered him be extradited after denying both a rehearing of his appeal and a motion to stay the extradition.