At Berbice Assizes
By Jeune Bailey Van-Keric
A MANSLAUGHTER trial began at the Berbice Assizes yesterday, with State Prosecutor Fabayo Azore stating that it surrounds an argument between two men who were playing a game of pools.

In her opening address, she said, on April 23, 2006, Narvin Raghoo and Ramraj Sankar were the players at Red Rose Liquor Restaurant.

The Prosecutor said, after the two began arguing, they were cautioned and, as Sankar left, riding his bicycle, Raghoo was seen pelting beer bottles after him.

She said Raghoo returned to the bar with a broken bottle and Sankar was seen lying motionless on Nigg Public Road, with injuries about his body.

The latter was later pronounced dead on arrival at Port Mourant Hospital and an autopsy report revealed that his death was due to a ruptured spleen and a stab wound.

Azore said two persons were arrested for the crime but the other has absconded and Raghoo is indicted for the unlawful killing of Sankar.

A witness, Bartender Bemanenen Nandesan recalled, to Justice Diana Insanally and the mixed jury, that he was on duty at the Red Rose on April 23, 2006, between 8 p.m. and 8.30 p.m. when four persons, including the victim and the accused, argued over the use of the pools table.

He said he spoke to the group and ordered them to leave the premises in which there were five lighted energy saving bulbs.

Nandesan said, up to when he closed the business at midnight, neither of the four had returned.

In answer to Defence Counsel Hukumchand, the witness said, although he was the bartender for seven years, he did not know the fourth man in the quartet but the third was named Joshua.

Nandesan said he did not pay much attention to the argument as it was a regular feature in such an environment.

However, he maintained that no one was stabbed in the bar whilst he was in it.

Questioned by the jury, Nandesan said he could not say whether the persons were drinking whilst playing pools, as a waitress usually serves tables.

Another witness, Khemraj Donarine Ramsook, also called ‘Long Hair’ and ‘Baithu’, said he had known the deceased as ‘Tiger’ and ‘Tiger Laugh’ for between 10 and 12 years whilst he worked at a sugar estate.

On that tragic day, Ramsook said he was awakened by the sound of Sankar’s voice calling him.

He looked through a window above his shop and the caller lying motionless, face down on the road parapet.

Witness said he telephoned Sankar’s sister and she arrived at the scene.

Under cross-examination, Ramsook said he did not see the accused when Sankar called him.

Answering the jury, he said he did not know who called the Police nor how the victim got on the parapet but there were lights on the street about 50 feet away and in front of his shop.

Sixty-eight-year-old Khemraj Rajnauth called Kenneth, who was a watchman at Belvedere Inn, said he saw the wounded man sitting on a bench at his work site and, when he asked him what was wrong, the man got up from and then fell unto the roadway.

There were bloodstains on his clothing and where he laid, the witness said.

He said his employer shook the lying man a few times but got no response.

Police Constable Ron Coojah said he witnessed the post mortem examination performed by Dr Nehaul Singh at New Amsterdam Hospital Mortuary on April 27, 2006, after the sister of the dead man, Lilawattie Ramjattan, identified the body that was interred, tgwo days later, at Hampshire Cemetery.
The trial is continuing.