Herstelling murder trial…
– expected to be sentenced in Court this morning
FISHERMAN Chaetram Singh called ‘Monster’, yesterday afternoon, during his trial at the Demerara Assizes, pleaded  Guilty to killing his wife, Ileen Lall, on February 6, 2007.

The accused is expected to be sentenced this morning.
Justice Winston Patterson is conducting the trial being carried out by a 12-member jury comprising 7 women and 5 men.
The Prosecution, conducted by Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin and Miss Latchmie Rahamat,  are contending that on the day in question, the accused committed the act following a misunderstanding between them.
On the other hand, the accused, who had (prior to yesterday) pleaded not guilty, is being represented by Attorney-at-law, Mr. Huckumchand.
However, Mr. Huckumchand, told the court yesterday afternoon that his client would like to change his ‘not guilty’ plea to that of ‘guilty’ to the lesser count of manslaughter.
This sudden change of plea took place immediately after the son of the accused decided to take the witness stand.
According to the leading  Prosecutor, the accused Chaetram Singh and the deceased, Ileen Lall, lived together as man and wife in a union which produced  four children.
During the year 2007,  Lall left the accused and the home they shared and she took up residence at 474 Herstelling with her children.
On the day in question, Lall who worked as a domestic, went with her sister Anita, to look for work, after which they visited a family.
While they were there, the accused showed up looking for Lall. He questioned Anita about her whereabouts. Anita told him she had not seen her sister. But Lall was hiding in a cupboard.
The accused asked for money and some water. He was given a glass of juice but no money.
He walked away and turned back.  Anita told him to go home and rest and that she would bring Lall home.
According to the prosecutor, evidence would be led to show that the accused was crying. As he lifted up his jersey to wipe his nose, Anita, who is a star witness in the case, saw a brown handle knife in his waist.
The accused sat outside the fence and waited.
Lall eventually came out from her hiding place in the cupboard and as she and Anita were walking towards their home, the accused was pulling at her.
When they reached Lall’s home, she went into the yard and Anita ‘chained’ the gate.
The accused was left standing on the street. That was around 3:30 – 4 p.m.
Sometime after, there was the sound of screaming from the house where Lall lived.
A businessman who lived next door came out of his shop and saw the accused with what appeared to be blood on his hands. The accused was heading away from Lall’s home.
Some neighbours looked into the yard where Lall lived and saw what appeared  to be blood dropping from the upstairs flooring to the ground below.
The police were summoned.  When they arrived, Lall was found in the rented room in a sitting position bracing the wall, in a pool of blood. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The jury heard that three days later, Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh  performed a post mortem examination on Lall’s body and gave the cause of death as ‘perforation of the lung and kidney due to stab wounds’.
Two witnesses had testified before the trial was adjourned to yesterday to facilitate an application by the defence counsel who had made other engagements prior to his being told that his case would be first in the sessions.