ON the resumption of the Ogle murder trial Friday morning, Presiding Judge Mr. Brassington Reynolds before beginning his summing-up to the jury recalled an earlier ruling against the number three accused Vijay Rajkumar called ‘Eon’ and later directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty in his favour. The judge then summed up the evidence in relation to accused Christopher Dhanrad also called Paul Jagnandan.
The jury after deliberating for over two hours returned for further directions. Later they returned with a unanimous verdict of not guilty in relation to murder accused, Jagnandan. Jagnandan was discharged.
Like the other three accused, Jagnandan, said to be the mastermind in the matter, said ‘thank you’ and left the dock like a man in a hurry and then ran down the steps of the court on his freedom journey.
On January 12 of this year, at the beginning of the January Criminal sessions, four accused Christopher Dhanrad aka Paul Jagnandan, Azim Khan, Vijay Rajkumar called ‘Eon’ and Kumar Seeraj called ‘Boysie’ appeared at the Demerara Assizes in answer to the indictment of murder committed on 33-year old taxi driver Teddy Smith, on October 24, 2004.
They pleaded not guilty and were represented by Attorneys-at-Law, Mr. Euclin Gomes, Mr. Hukumchand, Miss Kamini Parag and Mr. Adrian Thompson.
A 12-member jury to try the case were empanelled but the jury were made to give way to four separate voir dire (a trial within a trial) in which the judge, Justice Brassington Reynolds decided questions of law as they pertained to alleged caution statements, said to be made by the accused, who denied making same and applications by Prosecutor Ganesh Hira to lead additional evidence.
A the end of the fourth voir dire the judge had been critical of certain police witnesses because of their dismal performance in relation to at least two accused.
The substantive trial started with the Prosecutor Ganesh Hira, in association with Lawyers Latchmie Rahamat and Rhondel Weever, delivering his opening address and calling witnesses in support of his case, while the defending lawyers were defending stubbornly.
At the close of the case for the prosecution, no-case submissions were made on behalf of all the accused.
However, the judge accepted the submissions in relation to two of the accused, Azim Khan, represented by Mr. Hukumchand and accused Kumar Seeraj called ‘Boysie’ represented by Mr. Adrian Thomson. They were freed.
The case for the prosecution was to the effect that the accused hired a taxi driven by Teddy Smith, 33, on October 24, 2004, and directed Smith to the East Coast of Demerara, where he was robbed and murdered.
In statements from the dock, the two accused – Jagnandan and Rajkumar, whose no-case submissions were rejected, were called upon for a defence. They made unsworn statements from the dock in which they claimed that they had signed blank papers as a result of police brutality meted out to them in an effort to achieve confessions.
Defence Lawyers Mr. Euclin Gomes and Miss Kamini Parag who had indicated their willingness to address the jury declined on the resumption Friday,— leaving prosecutor Hira with nothing to reply to.
On the resumption Friday the judge who was expected to begin with his summing-up in relation to two of the accused Jagnandan and Rajkumar, recalled his earlier ruling in which he had found that the statement Rajkumar had alleged to have made was admissible. The statement was now inadmissible and the no-case submission by Miss Kamini Parag in relation to her client was upheld. This left Jagnandan as the only accused to face the jury. Rajkumar was discharged.
After a summing-up which lasted four hours the jury retired to deliberate and after about two hours they returned for further directions and later returned with a unanimous verdict of not guilty in favour of Jagnandan, who was subsequently discharged by the judge.