At Berbice Assizes…
JUSTICE Claudette La Bennett has ordered that manslaughter accused Wazim Mohammed face another trial at the next sitting of the Berbice Assizes in June.

The judge made the order after the mixed jury, having listened to testimony from 17 witnesses over a two-month period and the six hours summing-up, failed to reach a verdict last week Thursday night, despite getting further Court directions.

At the commencement of the trial, State Prosecutor Ganesh Hira had informed the jurors that there were no eyewitnesses, except for the accused who had confessed to the crime.

However, there was an abundance of circumstantial evidence, the Prosecutor said.

In that confession, which was exhibit ‘A’, the accused, then 18 years old had given his version of the events of the night of September 27, 2005.

The accused said he and the victim had been drinking and were ‘drunk’ when they became involved in a fight. He said he lashed Russell Nelson with a piece of wood, how many times he did not know, before the latter died on December 5, 2005.

During the failed trial, Defence Counsel Charrandas Persaud had objected to some evidence and legal arguments were made in the absence of the jury.

After three days of legal submissions by lawyers on both sides, Justice La Bennett ruled that the statement of the accused was given freely and voluntarily.

The unlawful killing of Nelson, 62, a pensioner and part time security guard, for which Mohammed was indicted, took place at Fyrish, Corentyne.

The cause of death, at Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), was recorded, in the post mortem examination report, as a fractured skull and septicaemia.