Marcus Bisram wants State to pay him for false imprisonment

Former murder accused Marcus Bisram wants the court to award him monetary damages for the period he was unlawfully incarcerated because of the actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, and the State. Bisram has now moved to the Guyana Court of Appeal challenging the refusal of Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall to order monetary damages in that regard.

“The learned Judge erred in law when she refused to order monetary/vindicatory damages to the appellant [Bisram] for the period of time he was unlawfully in prison because of the actions of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the State,” argued Bisram through his lawyer Arudranauth Gossai.
In June 2020, the same Judge had granted an order quashing as unlawful the directive by Ali-Hack for Bisram, a Guyana-born US-based businessman, to be committed to stand trial for the 2016 murder of Berbice carpenter, Faiyaz Narinedatt. On April 6, 2020, the DPP, under Section 72 (2) (ii) (b) of the Criminal Law Offences Act, directed that Bisram be committed to stand trial in the High Court.

This directive was duly complied with by the Magistrate, who had previously discharged Bisram after ruling that the prosecution failed to establish a prima facie case at the close of a Preliminary Inquiry. In a 32-page judgement, Justice Morris-Ramlall held that the evidence disclosed by the prosecution at the close of its case did not meet the required evidentiary threshold.
“…The evidence is insufficient, or, in other words, it is not of the quality that a reasonable jury properly directed could safely convict on it. The State or extent of the evidence is a relevant factor that should have been taken into account by the DPP in arriving at her decisions.” According to the Judge, the evidence of one “Chunilall” was the body and soul of the prosecution’s case against Bisram.
She said that there was no other evidence, direct or circumstantial, linking Bisram to the murder charge.

“At the close of the case for the prosecution, the evidence of Chunilall was totally discredited and rendered manifestly unreliable. The evidence remained substantially the same at the close of the case for the defence […] This is the kind of the case that required the Magistrate to be particularly concerned about credibility as the evidence of Chunilall is to my mind worthless,” the Judge underscored.
When the case concluded, Justice Morris-Ramlall issued several other orders. Among them was an order that the arrest of Bisram on March 30, 2020, was unlawful; an order that the continued incarceration of Bisram since his arrest on March 30, 2020, was unlawful; and an order preventing the DPP from bringing a murder charge against Bisram in the High Court.
Bisram is also appealing a ruling by Justice Morris-Ramlall in which she rejected submissions proffered by his lawyer that Section 72 of the Criminal Law Offences Act is unconstitutional since the provision infringes on Articles 122 (a) and 144 (1) of the Constitution and the doctrine of the separation of powers.
Bisram’s appeals, as well as one filed by the DPP against the Judge’s decision to quash her directive for committal, are engaging the Court of Appeal which opened arguments on December 18, 2020. The DPP is maintaining that her order for Bisram to be committed to stand trial was lawfully made.
Further arguments will continue on January 13, 2021, before Chancellor of the Judiciary Yonette Cummings-Edwards and Justices of Appeal Rishi Persaud and Dawn Gregory-Barnes.
It was alleged that on the day of the killing, Bisram had a party at his home which Narinedatt and others attended.  Media reports are that Narinedatt went to the yard and was followed by Bisram, who reportedly came up behind him and started “feeling him up.”
It was reported that Narinedatt slapped and chucked Bisram, who allegedly directed his friends to kill him. According to reports, several men beat the carpenter and dumped his body on the Number 70 Village Corentyne, Berbice road.
It was reported that they then drove over his body to make it appear like a vehicular accident. Five other men: Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, and Niran Yacoob are currently awaiting trial at the High Court for Narinedatt’s murder.