Committal Order bad  – Indictment quashed
THE Khemraj Boodhoo murder trial, which had been aborted before another judge, ended yesterday with the indictment being  quashed on the ground that the committal order by the Magistrate was bad in law.
But because  the charge is valid,  Presiding Judge Roxanne George ordered a new Preliminary Inquiry into the matter.
And the accused was ordered to face a new preliminary inquiry as soon as possible.
Prosecutor Miss Latchmie Rahamat represented the State.
Defence Counsel Bernard De Santos, S.C.,  had also asked the judge to  nullify the whole matter and free the accused at this stage  because of the length of time the Prosecution took to present the case for hearing since he was charged in 2005.
But the judge found otherwise.  After finding that the Committal Order by the Magistrate was illegal, in that the Magistrate did not confine  himself to all aspects of law, Judge Roxanne George also found that the Director of Public Prosecutions had wrongly indicted the accused on the basis of  the invalid committal order.
However, after finding that the charge was still valid, the Judge remanded the accused to prison with the hope that within 120 days the accused will be subjected to a new preliminary inquiry.
Senior Counsel  De Santos, noting that his client, Khemraj Boodhoo, alias ‘Sham and Shaw’,  was indicted for the July 5, 2005, unlawful killing of Lilendra Roopnarine, called ‘Boyo’,  told the Court that he would in the circumstances approach the Director of Public Prosecutions with the hope of persuading  her to enter a nolle proseque  (withdrawal of the charge) in the matter, in favour of his client.