THE Court of Appeal yesterday ruled in favour of the State, noting that the not guilty verdict of the two men accused of the 2008 Lusignan massacre was “unsafe and unsatisfactory.”

In August 2013, a mixed jury found that the two men accused of killing eleven persons at Lusignan, East Coast Demerara, in January 2008, including five children, were not guilty of the charges. The men James Anthony Hyles, known as ‘Sally’, and Mark Royden Williams, called ‘Smallie’, were charged in 2008.
The State had appealed the verdict. In handing down the decision yesterday, Justice Carl Singh said that there were several irregularities during the High Court trial, rendering the not guilty verdict unsafe. He ordered that a retrial be done.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes represented James Anthony Hyles and in this regard, Justice Singh in his ruling stated that Hughes did not disclose to the trial judge that he once represented the foreman of the jury in a previous case, which is a conflict of interest.
According to Justice Singh, the move by Hughes was unethical. Also in his ruling, Justice Singh said that the Trial Judge failed to hold an inquest over one of the presiding jurors, who was seen showing the father of the accused, Hyles, “thumbs up.”
On January 26, 2008, gunmen stormed into the village of Lusignan and murdered eleven people, including five children. Five families were affected by the killings.
Police believed that the gunmen who were armed with shotguns and AK-47s entered the village around 2:00am and invaded the homes of five families. Within about 20 minutes eleven people were murdered.
The victims were Clarence Thomas, 48, Vanessa Thomas, 12, Ron Thomas, 11, Mohandan Goordat, 32, Seegopaul Harilall, 10, Seegobin Harilall, 4, Dhanwajie Ramsingh, 52, Seecharran Rooplall, 56, Raywattie Ramsingh, 11, Shazam Mohammed, 22, and Shaleem Baksh, 52.