Officials from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) have confirmed that a 25-year-old male witness in a murder case was on Monday afternoon questioned in relation to an alleged “wilful and corrupt” perjury, which occurred at the Georgetown Supreme Criminal Court on February 16, 2022.
Pascale Smith
This, the CID stated, was in order to prevent the conviction of the accused Pascale Smith for an indictable offence of murder which took place on April 30, 2017.
Police stated that on that on October 30, 2017, the man initially testified in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts in the case of murder committed on John Hutson, but on February 16, 2022, he told the Georgetown Supreme Criminal Court that he knows nothing about the matter.
During interrogation on Monday, he was cautioned in accordance with the Judge’s rules and he elected to tell his story.
He reportedly stated that he did give a written statement to the Police at Kitty Police Station of what he witnessed on the night of April 30, 2017.
A few weeks later, he had attended and positively identified the suspect at an identification parade and subsequently testified on October 30, 2017, at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Magistrate Leron Daly.
Further, the man told investigators on Monday that sometime in January 2021, he was taken to the accused’s father who threatened that if he did not change his story, he would “face the consequences”.
Meanwhile, on February 16, 2022, he attended court and stated that he knew nothing about the matter.
Based on this, the Police are expecting to charge him for the said offence of perjury as soon as today.
Pascale Smith was acquitted after Demerara High Court Judge Brassington Reynold upheld a no-case submission made on his behalf by his lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
