– Witness says ‘It was too dark to identify girl’
THE Paul Bagot murder trial which was aborted by the judge some days ago because a member of the jury discovered that he knew a relative of the accused, was restarted yesterday when a prosecution witness said she could not identify the deceased that night because it was dark Prosecution witness Desiree Shepherd, on Monday, told Presiding judge William Ramlal  that she was in her West Ruimveldt Front Road home on the night of September 30, 2004, when she was attracted by the screams of a young woman whose voice she believed to be that of her daughter.
It turned out not to be her daughter.
Witness Shepherd, who testified at the aborted trial, was testifying at the new trial on Monday against Paul Bagot, called Paul Moore, who is accused of the murder of 16- year-old Abigale Gittens with whom he is said to have had a sexual relationship.
The first witness to be called by the prosecution on Monday was Desiree Shepherd. She testified that about 11:30h on the night in question she was in bed with her husband when she was attracted by the screams of a young woman.
Believing that it was her daughter screaming, she ventured outside and three corners away she saw a young woman in a crouching position against a fence. A crowd was also present, she said.
She added that the place was so dark that she could not determine whether the woman was her daughter or not.
The witness further testified that she accompanied the young woman in a taxi to the Georgetown Hospital; and although they were in the same car, she did not know until later that the young woman was Abigale Gittens and not her daughter.
Under cross-examination by Attorney-at-law Mr. Hukumchand who, along with Miss Sonia Parag, is appearing for the accused, the witness said that not only did she not recognize the girl that night but she did not see any marks of violence on her body.
In answer to further questions from Mr. Hukumchand, the witness said that she did not see the accused in the crowd or on the road that night.
Questioned by the jury and Justice William Ramlal, the witness Shepherd said that she did not ask the girl why she was screaming.
When asked why she didn’t enquire, the witness explained that the girl was sitting against the fence as though she was sleeping.
Shepherd said that the woman whom she took to hospital was wearing a blue skirt and orange top that night.
State Prosecutor Miss Rhondel Weaver, in association with Miss Shivani Balcharan, told the mixed jury in her opening address on Monday that although there was no eye-witness to the crime, she hopes to prove by circumstantial evidence that the accused was responsible for the death of the young woman Abigale Gittens, who was allegedly stabbed to death on the 30th day of September, 2004.
The trial continues tomorrow when another witness will testify.