Judge throws out oral statements allegedly made by accused
JUSTICE Winston Patterson, the presiding judge in the West Bank Demerara, murder trial, who was conducting a voir dire to determine the admissibility of oral statements by accused Lakenauth Dial, called Mohan, yesterday ruled that the oral statements were inadmissible.
The voir-dire (a trial within a trial), conducted in the absence of the jury, with the judge being arbitrator of the law and facts, rejected that part of the evidence from the record.
But the substantive trial will proceed today unless Prosecutors Miss Latchmie Rahamat, with Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin, thinks otherwise.
The accused, Lakenauth Dial, is indicted for the murder of Farzam Khan on the night of February 2, 2008.
There was no eye-witness to the crime but the prosecution has set out to prove, through circumstantial evidence, that the accused was the killer.
The accused, represented by Mr. Vic Puran, Attorney-at-law, has pleaded not guilty.
According to the prosecution, Farzam Khan, now deceased, was at a wedding house function at Claybrick Village when he sought a lift in a motor car to purchase a coke not far away, and he was attacked and fatally stabbed as soon as he exited the vehicle.
When the substantive trial started some days ago, Prosecutor Rahamat was examining a witness who inferred that the accused had used certain words which the defence denied making.
Defence counsel Mr. Puran objected to the tendering of the oral statements, resulting in the judge sending the jury out of sight and hearing for the purpose of conducting a voir dire.
In the smaller trial, the judge had also found that there was inconsistency in evidence among some of the prosecution witnesses who had given different versions in relation to certain aspects of the case.
However, the judge noted that both the prosecutors and defence lawyer had done a lot of research and was very helpful to the court in their respective submissions.
The hearing continues today.