State fighting to get in deposition of migrated eye witness
JUSTICE  Winston Patterson, the presiding  judge in the West Bank Demerara murder  trial  who was conducting a voir dire (a trial within a trial) to determine the admissibility of a caution statement by the accused Lakenauth Dial called Mohan,  yesterday ruled that the  statement was inadmissible, and was rejected from the evidence. With the  Caution statement out and faced with no eye-witness  to support the prosecutions’  case,  State Prosecutor Miss Latchmie Rahamat  – who is associated with Ms. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin  for the DPP’s Chambers – sought, under section 95,  to tender the deposition  of  an eye witness who had testified at the  Preliminary Inquiry but who has since migrated.

The voir dire which is considering the application by the prosecution for the tendering of the deposition in the absence of the witness, was still in progress at the end of yesterday’s session, when the hearing was adjourned to today.

In the substantive trial, the Prosecution has set out to prove by evidence that Farzan Khan, now deceased, had attended a wedding house function at Clay-Brick Village, West Bank Demerara, on the night of February 2, 2008, when he was fatally stabbed on his way to purchase a soft drink.

Police investigations, the prosecution is alleging, led to the accused Lakenauth Dial called Mohan being arrested and charged with murder.

Mohan, represented by Mr. Vic Puran in association with Miss Mishka Puran, has pleaded not guilty.

The hearing is continuing.