South Central Hotel murder trial begins

ON Wednesday, the ‘South Central Hotel’ murder trial began in the Demerara High Court before Justice Sandil Kissoon and a 12-member jury when several witnesses testified.

According to the state’s case, between November 13 and 14, 2013 it is alleged that the accused, Brian Leitch called “Big Foot” murdered hotelier, Joseph Jagdeo called “Joey” at his place of business, South Central Hotel, located on South Road.

In his opening address. State prosecutor Mandel Moore told the court that the accused murdered the deceased and stuffed his body under a bed.

The state is being represented by Mandel Moore and Lisa Cave while the defence attorneys are Lawrence Harris and Hewley Griffith.

Asaf Ally took the stand and testified that the deceased was his step-dad and he recalled that on November 14, 2013 at about 6:50am, his mother received a call and they left for South Central Hotel and was shown Room 10.

He stated that when they looked under the bed they saw the body of Jagdeo with his mouth, hands and feet bound, after which employees called the police.

Ally told the court that on November 15, 2013, he went to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation mortuary and identified the body of Jagdeo before a post-mortem was performed and was present at the Good Hope Crematorium for his cremation on November 20, 2013.

The next witness, Wendell Eastman called “Buxton,” who was employed at South Central Hotel as the maintenance worker told the court that he knew his employer, the deceased, since Jagdeo was his boss.

The witness added that he also knew the accused who used to stay at the hotel back in 2013 with a girl in Room 9, but he was called by his employer who told him to put the accused in another room because the girl no longer wanted him to stay in her room.

Eastman recalled that he put the accused in Room 10 because the girl said the accused stole the deceased’s phone and the duo had an argument after which he went about his chores at the hotel.

The witness told the court that on November 13, 2013 at 7am, he went to his boss’s office where he collected some soap liquid and $1,000 and went about washing the yard until he saw another employee, Trevor (only name given) come in and had a bag with cups of porridge in it.

Eastman stated that Trevor gave him a cup of porridge and then went upstairs to the boss for about 10 minutes before returning downstairs and left.

The witness recalled that it began to rain and the accused came up from behind him and walked past. By then the bartender came to work and went upstairs to the boss’s office to collect the keys to open the bar.

He said he went about his chores and then went to sleep and woke up about 3p.m. He then went to the bar where he saw the bartender speaking on her cellphone but did not know who was on the other end of the line.

Eastman added that he went out to make a purchase of cigarettes and spent some hours away from the hotel since he was chatting with a friend at Charlotte and Wellington Streets after which he returned to the hotel and went to bed around midnight.

He woke up the following morning and went about his chores of filling up buckets and was in the passageway of the hotel when he observed his boss’s pet cat was behaving strangely and scratching at the door of Room 10.

Eastman said he continued his chores and was still watching the cat and decided to call out to another employee (Bolai) and told him what he saw as it relates to the cat and he went on the shed and peeped in Room 10.

He saw the room key on the bed and he managed to take it out with a piece of wire and Bolai opened the door of Room 10. He then knelt down and looked under the bed and saw the body of Jagdeo. The police were summoned and they were all asked to go to the Brickdam Police Station to give statements.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Lawrence Harris, Eastman said he wasn’t aware how his boss met his demise and he did not see the accused inflict any injuries on the deceased.

Patrick Wilson called “Bolai” testified that he was employed at South Central Hotel in 2013 and knew the deceased who was his boss as well as the accused who was a tenant at the said hotel.

On November 13, 2013, he reported for work at about 7:30pm and spoke to the bar lady and went about his job. On November 14, 2013, he was about to go home when his co-worker “Buxton” came to him and told him that the cat was acting strange.

They decided to investigate and “Buxton” climbed the shed and saw the room key on the bed in Room 10 and made a wire hook and got the key after which he opened the door and saw the body of their boss under the bed, Wilson said.

It was then he took out his cellphone and called the police. He recalled seeing his boss alive the day before and did not see the accused at the hotel on the day in question.

Police witness Sergeant Rawle Nedd testified that he was on duty when a reporter from Kaieteur News showed up at CID HQ with a woman and her son.

They were identified as Sharmain Dover and her son, Brain Leitch for whom a wanted bulletin was issued for. He made some calls to confirm the information after which the accused was escorted to the Brickdam Police Station.

The next witness, Paulette Hollingsworth who said she was the bartender at South Central Hotel in 2013, recalled that November 13, 2013 was a normal day and the following day she saw her employer who told her ‘something’ and he was healthy.

The next day, November 14, 2013, she reported for work and uplifted the key to the bar and the stock sheet from her employer’s office. She then opened the bar but did not see the ‘boss man’.

Later, she tried contacting her employer via his cellphone but was unsuccessful until a voice answered in a short “hello” and she did not hear any background sounds.

Hollingsworth told the court that she kept calling her employer because she wanted money to buy stocks for the bar and wanted to enquire about Trevor’s salary. She later got a text message from her boss’s phone which said “Are you a spy”.

When her shift ended at about 8pm, she went to hand over the day’s sales from the bar and the key to Bolai and she left for home.

Faye Carter testified that she purchased a cellphone for the deceased with her identification card as was requested by her late husband who was employed at the hotel back in 2013 and paid $7,500 for the cellphone for which she had a receipt.

Several other witnesses testified before a voir dire was called to determine the admissibility of the evidence in the trial which continues today.

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