As the Lorenzo Forde murder trial continues at the High Court in Georgetown, Police Sergeant Jomo Williams was on Tuesday cross-examined by defence counsel Hewley Griffith who sought to dispute many aspects of the witnesses’ testimony that he gave in his evidence-in-chief.
Forde is accused of murdering Pegasus Hotel taxi driver Rubranauth Jeebo whose motionless body was found in a heap of garbage at Caneview Avenue, South Ruimveldt, Georgetown.
Murder accused Lorenzo Forde
December 27 and 28, 2013, during the course or furtherance of a robbery.
Sergeant Williams was the principal investigator during the murder investigation. He informed the court that he had observed both the man’s body and later, the motorcar which was checked for fingerprint evidence.
At Tuesday’s proceedings, Williams admitted that he never took fingerprints from the accused because he was not asked to. The Police witness further stated that he could not recall if any other evidence was taken from the car besides fingerprints which were ‘lifted’ from the vehicle.
The set of responses prompted counsel to remark that Williams’ answer was “very convenient” – a comment for which Griffith was reprimanded. Justice Reynolds interjected, telling Forde’s lawyer to “stay away from such comments” as members of the jury were present. As Griffith complied, Sergeant Williams observed that to his knowledge, none of the prints found had matched that of the accused.
The Police witness, however, pointed out that some of the prints matched another accused, whose name was called out in court.
As Williams continued his testimony, he could not say whether or not the strand of hair that was found in the car matched the hair of the accused. The Police witness further stated that he had contacted the then 17-year-old accused around 11:00h at the Sparendaam Police Station and escorted him to the Police station at Golden Grove. Williams said Forde was interviewed in the presence of his aunt and maintained that at no time was the accused cuffed or kicked. Forde is represented by Attorneys Hewley Griffith and Rachael Bakker, while State counsels Lisa Cave, Shawnette Austin and Tiffini Lyken are presenting the prosecution’s case.
