Crimson Light murder trial… Judge upholds no-case submission –two accused freed
Murder accused Marlon Fordyce and Troy Stewart as they entered the Berbice High Court last Tuesday
Murder accused Marlon Fordyce and Troy Stewart as they entered the Berbice High Court last Tuesday

MURDER accused Marlon Fordyce, 26, and Troy Stewart, 31, were on 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 at Corriverton, Upper Corentyne 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 simply proved that Phaskanram died from just 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 of leaving his injured father in the verandah of their home, but when he returned moments after, the elder 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 Phaskanram, son of the deceased, recalled that on December 18, 2012, he had returned home from work at about 3:00pm and had taken a seat on a bench in the yard.
Shortly afterwards, his father was seen coming from the direction of 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 him.

“My father ran into the verandah. Marlon and Troy held on to 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 asked 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.”

In his caution statement, Marlon Fordyce had claimed to be perched on a trestle when he saw another man firing chops at Rajmohan Phaskanram, who succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation 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 testament was admitted through Woman Detective Zoann Johnson, who had contacted the accused at the Springlands Police Station lockups on December 27, 2012.
Fordyce and Stewart were facing a joint murder indictment, and they have pleaded not guilty of unlawfully killing Rajmohan Phaskanram, known as Cowboy.

In his statement, Fordyce said he was sitting in the Crimson Light Bar at 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, a resident of Suriname, run out the bar into 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 Terrance pick up a piece of wood and lash ‘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 an alleged wounding, and it was after she had received certain information that the allegation of murder had been put to the men.

The witness noted that it was Fordyce who had 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 had led her to the Crimson Light Bar, where she had spoken with ‘Sugar’ and ‘Shorty’.
Responding to the other Defence Counsel, Ms Kim Kyte-John, the sleuth noted that Terrance 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 handle 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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