TWENTY-four-year-old murder accused Mahadeo Seewah, called ‘Rocky’, of La Bonne Intention, East Coast Demerara, who allegedly murdered 53-year-old Mon Repos Security Guard, Banan Persaud in a robbery bid in April, 2007, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter, at his trial before Justice Diana Insanally yesterday.

The judge accepted the plea, and directed the mixed jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
Acceding to the wishes of Defence Counsel, Mr. George Thomas, Justice Insanally then ordered a probation report on the accused, and postponed sentence to October 17, after she would have had the probation report and plea in mitigation from defence counsel.
When the trial began on Monday, the jury was empanelled and the case was adjourned to yesterday, when the prosecutor was expected to deliver her opening address to the jury.
But on resumption yesterday, Defence Counsel, George Thomas dropped a bombshell when he indicated to the court that his client would like to adopt a certain course of action — pleading not guilty to murder but guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
Lead Prosecutor Mrs Judith Mursalin, in association with attorney-at-law Miss Diana Kaulesar, had no objection to the course of action.
The accused was allowed to plead; but having been placed under the charge of the jury since Monday, the jury was directed by the judge to return a formal verdict of guilty to manslaughter.
Seewah had been committed on September 2, 2009 by a magistrate to stand trial in the High Court for the alleged murder of Persaud, committed on Monday, 23rd April, 2007, when Persaud’s body had been found on the parapet of the Mon Repos Drainage Canal with several wounds to the back of his head, a short distance from where he worked as a security guard at the Freshwater Aquaculture Farm and Demonstration Centre at Mon Repos, ECD.
His bicycle had been found a short distance from the body.
Police officers had visited the scene and had found a trail of blood leading towards the gate of the Aquaculture Farm; and a blood-stained baton had been found lying beside the guard hut. Louvre panes from the eastern side of the guard hut had been broken, and the doors to the Administration building had been found open.
A search was conducted in and around the compound, and a red and black Coleman 2500-watt generator and a black Nippon American battery charger had been found in a clump of bushes about 125 yards north-west of the building.
Tajenaraine Geer and Dave Narayan Ramsaywack, employees of the Farm, had identified the articles as the property of the Ministry of Agriculture which had been stolen from the Admin Building.
The accused was allegedly questioned about his whereabouts on the night in question, and is said to have given answers which could not be substantiated.
At the preliminary inquiry, the police had submitted a caution statement wherein the accused had allegedly admitted to the crime and had said that he did not intend to kill the watchman, but had to do so because the watchman knew him.
The accused had claimed that the police had beaten him in order to obtain the statement, which had led to the magistrate holding a voir dire, which proved that the statement had been obtained freely and voluntarily.
In the alleged caution statement, the accused had been recorded as saying that he had decided to steal the generator and battery charger because his home did not have electricity.
The statement also alleged that on arrival at the plant, the accused had found the watchman asleep on a table. He lashed the guard on his head with a piece of wood. The guard got up and told him to ‘come out of the place’. The guard picked up his bicycle and walked out of the compound. The accused walked behind him and cut off a stick from a rake, which he used to lash the guard on his head and body. He then threw the guard into a trench but pulled him out of the water after a while.
When he was riding home, he was stopped by two police officers in a patrol car, and they had asked him where he was coming from. He told them he went to a wedding house in the area.
The following day, he was arrested, and he learnt that the guard had died. He claimed his intention had not been to kill the watchman, but he had to do so because the watchman knew him.
Dr. Nehaul Singh, Government Forensic Pathologist and Registered Medical Practitioner, who performed the post-mortem, gave the cause of Persaud’s death as cerebral  haemorrhage due to fracture of the skull as a result of multiple injuries.