At Demerara Assizes…
JUSTICE Roxanne George-Wiltshire will sum up to the jury today in the wife burning murder case at the Demerara Assizes.
Dilip Lambert is accused of transforming his wife, Pearl Kunja, into a human torch by pelting her with a lighted kerosene stove, causing her death days later.
Before the adjournment yesterday, when informed of his options, he elected to remain silent in the dock.
Without calling any witnesses, Defence Counsel Peter Hugh addressed the jurors, urging them to find that the Prosecution witnesses had given inconsistent evidence in  different versions that were based on hearsay.
State Prosecutor Rhondel Weever maintained that the Prosecution had made out a strong case of murder and reminded the jury about the testimony of the witnesses as well as the claim by the victim, prior to her death, that she told the accused he was going to kill her now.
Kunja was set afire on October 2, 2007 and died in hospital on November 10, the same year.
On the resumption of the trial yesterday, Forensic Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh who performed the post mortem examination on then 42-year-old Kunja, testified about  finding complication arising from burns.
He said the woman died from gastro intestinal haemorrhage as a result of multiple ulcers due to between 35 and 40 per cent burns.
Lambert was first charged with attempted murder and committed to stand trial for manslaughter, after the preliminary inquiry (PI), but was indicted for the capital offence by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).