Justice Navindra Singh on Friday instructed the jury to render formal verdicts of not guilty in connection to the four individuals accused of the 2018 murder of Christopher Swamy, a handyman, while highlighting how “poor” the Police investigation into the case was.
Freed: Vickash Persaud (left) and Mustafa Douglas
Before the High Court Judge and a jury, Vickash Persaud, Mustafa Douglas, Fareed Haniff, and Rajkumar Singh had been on trial for the murder of Swamy, which took place on October 21, 2018, during the course or furtherance of a robbery in the now dead man’s home.
Following the conclusion of the prosecution’s case, the attorneys for the four men filed no-case submissions requesting an acquittal without their clients having to provide a defence since the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Judge reviewed the material before making his decision on the no-case, finding that there was no evidence connecting any of the accused to the robbery/murder.
Freed: Fareed Haniff (left) with his Attorney-at-Law Jevon Cox
Justice Singh made several points in his remarks, including how the Police’s probe into the man’s killing was “poor” and how two of the accused should have been discharged at the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) stage.
Nevertheless, he upheld the no-case arguments, directed the jury to return not-guilty verdicts in favour of all the accused, and later discharged them.
Justice Singh counselled the former murder accused to make the most of this second chance in order to meaningfully contribute to society before they left his courtroom. Family members and friends of the now freed men sobbed as they hugged and kissed them outside the courtroom. Two of them, Persaud and Douglas, told this publication that they felt relieved and that they were in jail for a crime they knew nothing about.
Attorney-at-Law Madan Kissoon represented Douglas, while Haniff was represented by Attorneys-at-Law, Dexter Smartt, Dexter Todd and Jevon Cox. Persaud and Singh were represented by Attorneys-at-Law Kezia Williams and Tracy Marks, respectively.
Rajkumar Singh is currently on remand on another murder charge
State Counsel Marisa Edwards and State Counsel Mikel Puran were the prosecutors. Meanwhile, Rajkumar Singh remains on remand in relation to another murder.
In March 2022, the Guyana Prison Service (GPS) reported that inmate Mahase Rajpaul was stabbed by Rajkumar Singh after a fight broke out between them in the prison’s holding bay. Rajpaul died while receiving treatment at the hospital.
It was reported that Swamy, 30, a father of two, was gunned down during an invasion at his Mon Repos, ECD home. Police stated that Swamy was among a group of persons including his wife, hanging out and imbibing in front of the house when at about 01:30h on the day in question, they were reportedly confronted by masked men, one of whom brandished a handgun.
Police said the suspects relieved one of the persons of a cell phone and an undisclosed sum of cash, after which they assaulted another person to the head. It was during the commotion that Swamy was shot in the chest. The men then fled the scene.
Swamy was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
A post-mortem examination performed by Government Pathologist, Dr Nehaul Singh, found that the now dead man had a gunshot wound to the left side of his chest.
