Taxi driver admitted to fatally stabbing ex-lover – Police testify

When the trial of 60-year-old Alan Sim, who is accused of murdering the mother of his child, continued on Monday, Police Inspectors Salesh Roopnarine and Suraj Singh testified that the murder accused admitted to stabbing the woman with a surgical blade during an argument they had over infidelity. Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry is presiding over the trial at the High Court in Demerara.
Based on reports, the murder accused and Melissa Skeete, 31, share a child together. On November 23, Sim picked up the woman from her place of work in his motor car, PRR 6801, but sometime after, she was discovered lying face down bleeding profusely from several stab wounds near Carmichael Street, Georgetown. The mother of four died while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

Three months after Sim was charged with the murder of Skeete, his son, Alan Sim Jr, was charged with being an accessory to the crime. According to the charge against the younger Sim, between November 23 and November 25, 2015, at Georgetown, he received, comforted, maintained and relieved his father after he murdered Skeete. The younger Sim was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
He is currently awaiting trial for the offence at the High Court.
Police Inspectors Roopnarine and Singh told the jury that they interviewed Sim in relation to the murder of Skeete during which he told them a story. According to the Inspectors, Sim told them that he and Skeete shared a relationship. The murder accused told the detectives that one day he went to the woman’s house at Lot 94 Prince William Street, Plaisance, East Coast Demerara, and to his surprise, she ran in the house.
Sim told the police witness that he hit one of the windows and broke the glass. He said that when he peeped into the house, he saw a man from Paradise, East Coast Demerara. The police ranks testified that Sim related to them that he asked Skeete “how she cud do that” when he had already paid her rent and bought a pump for her.
Sim told the police ranks that on November 23, 2015, he went to Skeete’s workplace at the GPHC and picked her up in his motor car. He related to the police ranks that as he was heading through Carmichael Street, Georgetown, he and the woman had an argument about the man he saw in the house and she told him that he [Sim] “could be her side man” since she lives with the other man.
According to Inspectors Roopnarine and Singh, Sim said to them that Skeete pulled out a surgical blade and attempted to stab him, but he took away same from her and stabbed her. The murder accused further related to them that the woman ran out of the car while bleeding and he drove away and hid the vehicle because if he had given it up, his children would punish.
They said that Sim told them, “me never expect this thing to go down suh”. Inspector Roopnarine testified that he made an entry with regards to what Sim told him but the murder accused refused to sign same based on advice he was given by his lawyer.
Skeete’s teen son said that during the month of November 2015, he lived at the aforementioned address with his mother and siblings.
According to the teenager, Sim was his mother’s boyfriend. Mitchell testified that at the time of his mother’s death, she was living at the aforesaid address with her other boyfriend, Junior. Asked by Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy when was the last time he saw Sim, Mitchell stated that he last saw him the night he broke the window to his home.

Reflecting on that night, the dead woman’s child testified that he was in his bed when he “heard a glass break.” The young man added that he thought it was the glass table, but next, he saw Sim at the window cursing his mother. He added that his mother and Sim were “cussing out” while her next boyfriend was at home.
After the “cussing out”, the teen stated that Sim went downstairs and said that if he cannot get to kill his mother he would come for the children before driving away. He noted that at the time of the incident, his other siblings were at home. Police Lance Corporal Rameshwar Singh said that during the month of November 2015, he was stationed at the Police Crime Laboratory, Eve Leary, Georgetown.
Singh, who is now stationed at the Brickdam Police Station and attached to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), added that on November 28, 2015, at around midday, he was sent to Carmichael Street, Georgetown, where he met with Senior Superintendent of Police Dass.
Lance Corporal Singh explained that he made a preliminary walkthrough of the scene where he observed what appeared to be blood on the eastern parapet and next to a utility pole in close proximity of the Ptolemy Reid Rehabilitation Centre. According to him, he took several photographs of the crime scene and gathered items of evidential value.
Another Police rank, Rawle Nedd, who was attached to the Police Crime Laboratory in November 2015, testified that on November 30, 2015, he received instructions to process motor car PRR 6801 based on a request from ranks of the Major Crimes Investigations Unit. The trial is ongoing.