POLICE Inspector Noland Burnett, a member of the team who investigated the Success murder case, was attempting to produce two cutlasses as exhibits that were analysed for bloodstains, when the Trial Judge Navindra Singh stopped him.

Justice Singh prevented the witness from doing so on the ground that the particular exhibits were improperly identified.
Arif Mohamed and his father, Latiff Mohamed, of Success, East Coast Demerara, are indicted at the Demerara Assizes for the unlawful killing of Jairam Balgobin called ‘Baker’ on March 4, 2008.
Burnett testified that he and a party of policemen had visited the crime scene, at Success Squatting Area, where he was assisting in the investigations.
He said he contacted the two accused, each of whom had a cutlass in his possession and Latiff told him that his son, Arif had a misunderstanding with his wife and got a cut on his hand.
Witness also said that he found Balgobin, whom he knew as a beggar, lying motionless on the ground with a wound to his neck and another on the left side of his face.
Burnett said, as he approached Latiff’s stairway, he saw what appeared to be bloodstains there and, when he went up the stairs, he saw the dead man.

CONFLICTING STORIES
Witness said he interviewed the two Mohameds, who gave him conflicting stories and he told them he suspected that they knew something about Balgobin’s death.
The Inspector said he then escorted Arif to  his residence where, on arrival at the stairway, he saw a blue and orange pair of slippers  with what looked like bloodstains and he took possession of them, the cutlasses, a pair of dark pants and a brief and carried them to Sparendaam Police Station.
Burnett said he did not see any bloodstains on the cutlasses but, at the station, he caused the two Mohameds to put their initials on those, too.   
He said the exhibits were taken by him to the analyst for examination after which he uplifted them and they were tendered in evidence at the preliminary inquiry (PI).
Before the judge and jury on Thursday, the   slippers, the pants and brief were admitted in evidence as they all had the initials of the accused but the cutlasses did not.
As a consequence, Defence Counsel Peter Hugh  successfully objected to the weapons being tendered and the judge upheld the objection.
Another witness, Devika Parbu was testifying when she complained, to the court, of being harassed by police during the investigations.
The young married woman, of Pigeon Island, also on the East Coast of Demerara, said she is related to the accused, Arif, the number one accused, is her husband’s brother, and Latiff is her father-in-law.
She claimed that on the day in question Arif went to her home and enquired whether she did not have anything to drink and she gave him a Cherry Brandy before leaving to take her child to school.
The woman said, on her return, Arif was still sipping the drink and she gave him another after which he left but returned later with a cut thumb.

BROKEN GLASS
She said she asked him how he got the wound and he explained that it happened at his mother’s home with a broken glass.
The witness said, later, she gave him food and he departed after eating it.
According to her, the police contacted her, subsequently, at her home and took her to Sparendaam Station where she was questioned.
It was at that stage, while being asked questions by leading State Prosecutor Konyo Thompson that the witness alleged police harassment during the investigations.
She said that one of the investigators, a short, dark  policeman, hit her behind the neck and told her that Arif had confessed, to her, that he killed a man and the detective demanded that she must talk the truth about the matter.
She said she told the police that all Arif did when he visited her home was beg for drinks and, later, food.
Notwithstanding that, she said the police set up a confrontation between herself and Arif, at which she denied that the latter made any confession about killing and he, too, made a similar denial.
The woman said she did not know the policemen by names but she could identify them if she sees them again.
Police officer Paul Wintz also testified that, as a result of a murder report, he and a party of policemen visited  Success  where they saw the lifeless body of Balgobin on a  floor.
The witness said he took statements from persons around and later contacted the number two accused at the Beterverwagting Police Station, where he informed him it was alleged that he and Arif had killed Balgobin on March 4, 2008 at Success and issued the normal warning to him.
Witness said Latiff refuted the allegation that he killed Balgobin, but he arrested him.
Wintz recalled that one Sandra Singh, in a statement, said that the accused had shown her a bag with a knife and torchlight and related to her how he had slit the throat of the victim.
The trial is continuing.