At Demerara Assizes…
SPECIAL State Prosecutor Jailall Kissoon told Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed Demerara Assizes jury yesterday that bad relationship over a property led to Rambarran Singh stabbing his eldest brother, Mahadeo Singh also called Shanta Ram, to death, at La Jalousie, West Coast Demerara, on March 22, 2005. Kissoon said the accused allegedly stabbed the victim 21 times and then said he had no knowledge of his whereabouts.

The Prosecutor likened the indicted sibling to Cain of biblical fame who killed his brother Abel and, when questioned, asked: “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

Kissoon said there are two claimed witnesses to the unlawful killing.

One of them, Chaitram or Chestram said, on March 22, 2005, between 2 p.m. and 2.30 p.m., he left home for the La Jalousie backdam.

The witness said, after conversing with a friend along the way, he proceeded to his field.

Chaitram said it began to rain while he was cutting rice and he was sheltering under a mango tree on the dam when, about 3 p.m., he saw the accused, whom he knew as Kesho, approaching on a bicycle.

The witness said the accused had a knife in his right hand and used it to stab his brother who was also on the bike.

Chaitram said the wounded man dismounted and tried to push the bike on the stabber who continued to stab him.

The bike with both men, eventually, fell into a drain, the accused on top the deceased who was holding the hand with the blade.

The other witness to testify yesterday, Dhanraj nicknamed ‘Burnham’, said, when he later went to the home of their younger brother Narine Singh, he told him about a fight between the older brothers.

Singh said, after receiving that information, he was on his way to the scene when he observed the accused coming out of the backdam.

The witness said he enquired what was wrong and the accused replied: “Nothing.”

The accused also said there was no fight and that his brother had gone to the rice field, Singh testified.

Singh said the shirt the accused was wearing had red stains that looked like blood and he became suspicious.

On returning home, the witness said he asked his neighbour to accompany him to the backdam where they discovered the deceased in the drain.

Singh will be further cross-examined by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos, for the Defence, when the trial continues tomorrow.