Crimson Light Bar murder trial… DJ, other freed as no-case submissions upheld
Murder accused Marlon Fordyce (left) and Troy Stewart as they entered the Berbice High Court last Tuesday
Murder accused Marlon Fordyce (left) and Troy Stewart as they entered the Berbice High Court last Tuesday

MURDER accused Marlon Fordyce and co-accused Troy Stewart were last Thursday freed of the capital offence which had kept them behind bars for almost three years.The men were accused of killing Rajmohan Phaskanram, who, on December 18, 2012, had gone to the Crimson Light Bar, Corriverton, Upper Corentyne, Berbice to purchase a bottle of beer.
In handing down his ruling, Justice Franklyn Holder noted that there was a break in the causative nexus of the state’s case. As a result, the evidence merely proved that Phaskanram had died from only injuries.

Citing several legal authorities, the Honourable Judge explained that every element must be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
Defence Attorneys Kim Kyte John and Tania Warren-Clements had submitted that the main witness Satesh Phaskanram had testified to leaving his injured father in the verandah of their home, but, when he returned moments after, the elderly man was seen 200 to 300 feet away lying along a track.
The state was unable to lead evidence to prove what had occurred from the time the elder Phaskanram was seen on the verandah, to the time he was discovered lying along the track.
Meanwhile, prior to the closure of the state’s case, Satesh Rhaskanram, son of the deceased, recalled that on December 18, 2012, he had returned home from work at about 03:00 hrs and had taken a seat on a bench in the yard.
Shortly afterwards, his father was seen coming from the direction of the seawall, dressed in his brief, and appearing to be drunk.
The witness recounted seeing three men approaching, two of whom were identified as the accused men sitting in the dock, and another whose name was unfamiliar.
The two accused, he said, ran into the yard while the third person jumped over that gate, and “viced” the deceased.
“My father ran into the verandah [and] Marlon and Troy held onto my father; both were armed with a piece of wood and a cutlass. Marlon had a stick, and Troy had a cutlass. They beat my father, and I shouted for thief. I told them to leave my father alone, and Marlon ask me if I want some lashes. I ran away leaving them behind. When I returned my father was not in the verandah, but was lying along a track about two to three hundred feet away.”
Meanwhile, in his caution statement, Marlon Fordyce, claimed to have been perched on a trestle, when he saw another man firing chops at Rajmohan Phaskanram, who succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital, on December 26, 2012.
The caution statement attributed to the murder accused Marlon Fordyce was admitted into evidence, following his arraignment before Justice Franklyn Holder, at the Berbice Assizes on Tuesday.
The testimony was admitted through Woman Detective Zoann Johnson, who had contacted the accused at the Springlands Police Station lock-ups on December 27, 2012.
Fordyce, aged 26 years, along with co-accused Troy Stewart, aged 31 years, faced a joint murder indictment and they had pleaded not guilty of unlawfully killing Rajmohan Phaskanram, known as “Cowboy.”
In his statement, Fordyce said that he was sitting in the Crimson Light Bar, Number 79 Village, Corentyne, when the now deceased entered and requested to purchase a bottle of Banks Beer.
“He then went outside. I remained in the bar. About five minutes later, two of the female bar attendants, “Sugar” and “Shorty,” informed me that a man was armed with a cutlass. I saw one Terrence Zickson and Rowel Agard, the latter a resident of Suriname, run out the bar and in the direction of “Cowboy.”
Continuing, he said: “I then heard a loud sound coming from behind the disco in the street. I jumped up on the black tank stand and I saw Rowel take a cutlass and was firing chops as “Cowboy” fell on the ground. I saw “Cowboy” get up and Terrence pick up a piece of wood and lashed “Cowboy” on his head. “Cowboy” fell and blood began to flow. I came down the tank stand, went to the bar which I locked up, before telling Troy to put up his car. After Terrence and Rowel ran away, we went to bed. A few minutes later the police arrested me.”
Earlier, the plainclothes policewoman said, the accused men had been arrested following a report of alleged wounding, and it was after she received certain information that the allegation of murder was put to them.
The witness noted that it was Fordyce who elected to make a statement, while Stewart maintained that he knew nothing of the incident.
Questioned by Attorney-at-Law, Tania Warren-Clement, who is defending Fordyce, the witness said her investigation led her to the Crimson Light Bar, where she spoke with “Sugar” and “Shorty.”
Responding to the other Defence Counsel, Ms. Kim Kyte John, the sleuth noted that Terrence and Rowel were never arrested in relation to the matter.
Meanwhile, another detective Ramesh Chetram told the mixed jury that after visiting the scene of the crime, he found a brown-handled cutlass, which he secured.
Thereafter, he visited the Skeldon Hospital where he saw the unconscious Rajmohan Phaskanram in the emergency unit with several wounds to his head and other parts of his body. He was later taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital, and subsequently the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, where he died.

 

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