Finder of death weapon testifies
JUSTICE Winston Patterson and a mixed jury in the West Bank,
Demerara murder trial heard witness Tilack Dari testify that he was in a search party looking for an alleged death weapon when he found a knife that was allegedly used to kill Farzan Khan, the deceased in the case.
The prosecution, conducted by State Counsel Miss Latchmie Rahamat,  with lawyer Ms. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin, of the DPP Chambers, has set out to prove that between the 2nd and 3rd of February, 2008, in the  county of Demerara, accused Lakenauth Dial, called ‘Mohan’, murdered Farzan Khan.
The accused, defended by Attorney-at –law, Mr. Vic Puran, has pleaded not guilty.
Witnesses have so far testified that Khan had been stabbed to death after he attended a wedding house party and alighted from a car which he had hired to take him to a cake-shop at Clay-Brick Village on the West Bank of Demerara, to purchase an aerated drink.
But the defence is hinting, under cross-examination, that the Police, who they believe were bent on getting a confession by hook or by crook, had ignored certain scientific methods in their investigation, failing to submit the alleged death weapon for the analyst’s examination.
The finder of the alleged death weapon, Khemraj Tilack Dari, testified on Wednesday afternoon.
According to him, on February 3, 2008, he was part of a party that carried out searches in the canal and on the Government reserve where Farzan Khan was allegedly murdered.
The witness said that after four and a half hours were spent searching in the canal, noting was found. Another half an hour was spent searching the reserve when the knife was found by him.
The witness said that he was advised by the group of searchers to pick up the knife with a piece of paper.
He did so and took the knife to Wales Police Station where he handed it over to Sgt. Orin Cameron.
The knife was shown to the witness who identified same by the brownish handle bearing a tiger head.
Dari said that he works at GuySuCo’s Wales Estate as a supervisor for the planting gang.
He and Farzan Khan were friends; they went to school together.
Under cross-examination, Dari said that it would have been impossible for him to have been at the Wales Police Station with the knife at 14:00h as Sgt. Cameron had claimed.
The trial continues this afternoon.