Retrial ordered for machine operator murder accused

A retrial was on Thursday ordered for 24-year-old Rayan Carter, the accused in the murder of 30-year-old machine operator Ishwar Ramanah of Kaneville, East Bank Demerara (EBD), who was shot when gunmen invaded his home on December 13, 2017.
Following deliberations Thursday, the jury was unable to arrive at a unanimous verdict.

As such, Judge Navindra Singh declared a hung jury and ordered a new trial for the murder accused at the next session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes, slated to commence next month at the Demerara High Court. The charge against Carter states that between December 13, 2017 and January 13, 2018, in the county of Demerara, he murdered Ramanah during a robbery.
According to reports, Ramanah sustained a gunshot injury to his abdomen when two armed men invaded his home just after midnight on December 13, 2017. During the robbery, the machine operator was relieved of a gold chain valued at $40,000 before the bandits made good their escape.
The injured man was taken for emergency attention at a medical facility, where he underwent surgery, but succumbed one month later while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital on January 13, 2018. Carter was subsequently arrested by Police ranks and placed on an identification parade, where he reportedly was positively identified.

Following the close of the prosecution’s case on Tuesday, Carter opted to give an unsworn statement in his defence. He also called his mother to testify on his behalf. Carter, in his statement, insisted that he did not know about the crime.
In fact, the murder accused told the court that at the time when gunmen had gone into Ramanah’s home, he was at the home of his girlfriend’s mother. “I don’t know anything about this murder. I read [about it] in the newspapers,” he said.
The murder accused claimed that he learnt of his alleged involvement in the crime only when he was charged and served with statements. According to him, on several occasions, Police had gone to his mother’s house looking for him. He testified that his mother turned him over to the Police.
“Me mother tell the Police that she bring me in, because she does not want them to kill me,” Carter added. He said, too, that Police returned to his mother’s house on January 17, 2018, arrested him, and escorted him to the Grove Police Station, EBD.
He added, “Them [the Police] never tell me what they arrested me for. They had me for nine days in the lock-ups. Them bring something for me to sign, but me ain’t sign it, because it had the wrong name.”
According to him on January 19, 2018, he was placed on an identification parade, after which the Police informed him that he had been positively identified. He, however, claimed that the other men on the ID parade were not of a height, race, complexion, and body structure similar to his.
“That is why I told my mother to get a lawyer for them to do over the ID parade,” he explained.
But, by then, Carter stated, it was too late because he was already charged and placed before the court. (G1)