“We are innocent” accused maintain

CALLED for a defence, the two accused Shawn Thom and Orrin David, accused of the robbery murder of Lakhram Bishundial, maintained they are innocent and claimed they did not know each other before the murder allegation.

And they asked the judge and jury to find that they did not kill Bishundial and committed the $500,000 robbery on August 20th 2010, as alleged by the witnesses.
The accused, who claimed that he was the only Rasta on the 10-man ID parade when he was allegedly picked out, said that he was at home with his relatives at Linden at the time when it is alleged he was on the East Coast of Demerara.
And his lawyer indicated to the court that he was seeking to call as a witness, the brother of the accused who was somewhere in the interior but was not expected to be in court before today.
Consequently, he applied for an adjournment to today to enable the witness to testify in the matter.
Justice Franklyn Holder granted the application.
It will be recalled that on 23rd of August 2010 Government Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh performed a post-mortem examination on the body of Lakhram Bishundial and found that he had sustained one gunshot wound. He gave the cause of death as perforation of the liver and spleen due to gunshot injuries.
Based on investigations by the police, the number two accused Orrin David was arrested on 10th September, 2010 in Linden. The following day, Inspector Parris held an identification parade in which two witnesses positively identified Orin David as the shooter of Bishundial, the prosecution had earlier disclosed.
Mr. Trenton Lake is representing the number one accused Shawn Thom, while Mr. George Thomas is appearing for Orin David.

Senior State Counsel Mrs. Judith Mursalin is prosecuting.
The hearing is continuing.

(By George Barclay)