THE preliminary inquiry (PI) into the murder of 58-year-old Fazal Shaheed, who was shot and killed during a break-in at his Freeman Street, East La Penitence family home, last year, is winding down at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.

On remand for the capital offence are Shawn DaSantos, 19, and Stephen Howard, 18, both of Freeman Street also. The pair is charged with murdering Shaheed, a Berbice businessman, during the course of a robbery on September 24, 2017.

The PI is being presided over by Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore, with evidence being led by Police Prosecutor Bess.

Come next Friday, the magistrate will make her ruling on a voir dire, and on the PI also.
On Sunday, September 24, 2017, gunmen stormed the East La Penitence family home of the Shaheeds as relatives were making final preparations for the patriarch’s one-year memorial service.

Fazal Shaheed was reportedly in the yard at around 00:40hrs when the gunmen struck while his two brothers, sisters and mother were inside the house. His brothers, Talim and Shalim, who had come in from Canada and the US respectively for the service, were both shot about their bodies.

The suspects reportedly told the police that the gun that was used in the commission of the crime was borrowed from a friend.

They also confessed that after seeing “strange faces” in the street, and having learnt that the persons were foreigners, they planned the robbery.