STATE Prosecutor Prithima Kissoon has urged the jury in the Cotton Tree murder trial at the Berbice Assizes that the case for the prosecution rests squarely on the caution statement attributed to the accused Nazrudeen Jhoot called ‘Buddy’.

“Once you accept the caution statement as being given by the accused, you must convict. You must be fearless in returning a verdict against the accused,” she challenged the jurors.
Continuing, she told them:”However, if you reject the statement, you reject the prosecution’s case.”
Kissoon noted that the evidence, though brief, was clear and free from inconsistencies.
She said the testimony of Ivorine Dukia, widow of Kemlall Mangal, revealed that, on August 25, 2008, the latter saw the accused, who lived a house away, standing at the corner of her street. She, in company with her daughter, Lisa Mangal, was on the way to Georgetown. On her return, she observed the lifeless body of her husband in a sitting position on a bench, with bloodstains about his body.
Another witness, Police Corporal Michael Peters, on receiving a report, went to the crime scene and observed injuries on the cheek, chin, left shoulder and abdomen of the deceased.
Kissoon said that evidence was collaborated by the post mortem report, which gave the cause of death as stab wound to the heart, which is consistent to the injury Peters saw to the abdomen. The report listed several injuries, which were also mentioned by Peters during his visual inspection.
The Prosecutor said:”The neighbours were questioned and, on receiving useful information, Peters went into a nearby trench, where a knife was retrieved. The knife was observed to have had plantain stains and, as a result, Bibi Rahaman, the mother of the accused was asked to affix her signature, which was also witnessed by Sergeant Gilbert Ross, crime scene photographer and Corporal Duke Jacques.”

INCORRECT NAME
Kissoon agreed that, indeed, there was no evidence that the accused was wanted. However, it was due to the astuteness of Constable Semple of Lethem Police Station, who, on looking at the Kaieteur Newspaper observed the photograph of a missing Lisa Mangal. It was the subsequent arrest of Mangal that led to the capture of Jhoot, who had, initially, given the officer an incorrect name.
Kissoon told the jury to disbelieve the accused story of going to the interior to look for a job, stating that:”Instead he fled his home after the incident. He was a fugitive from justice.”
Earlier, in an unsworn statement from the dock, the accused told Justice Brassington Reynolds and the mixed jury that, on August 29, 2008, he was at his Cotton Tree Village home, in company with friends when he got ready to go to Lethem.
“A few weeks before, my friends told me that someone needed workers at Lethem. So I talked with my mom and she said it was okay. We left Georgetown at 12:00 hrs and arrived at Lethem at about 02:00 hrs the following day. Two days afterwards, I called my mom telling her that I had arrived safely. I asked her if everything was okay and she said yes. Three to four days later, I tried calling Lisa Mangal but was not getting through. When I finally did, she was crying. I asked her the reason for the tears. She said someone had killed her father. I told her I am sorry to hear that.”
The dock statement continued:”On December 27, 2009, at about 12:30 hrs, a friend come up to me saying someone wanted to see me. I observed it was Lisa Mangal. I asked her if anyone knew where she was and she answered no.’
“On December 31, 2009, at about 23:45hrs, we were returning from the restaurant and were on our way to the hotel, when two persons in civilian clothes identified themselves as police officers. They asked my name I said Buddy. They asked the female her name and she responded Maria Singh. Afterwards, the officers told the female to visit the station as there was someone missing in the newspaper, who resembled her.
“At the station, the newspaper was brought and Lisa Mangal confessed that the photograph was hers. The following day, officer Semple took responsibility to take us to the Criminal Investigation Department Headquarters at Eve Leary, Georgetown. We were handed over to then Sergeant Kedarnauth Bejaimal, prior to being taken to Berbice by two other ranks.”
Meanwhile, in his address, Defence Counsel Charrandas Persaud said, while a knife was found, there is nothing to prove that it was used to commit a crime.
He further argued that time seemingly stood still, when analysing the time the accused arrived at Eve Leary to the period he wrote his caution statement.
In addition, the lawyer told the jury that a man’s life is at stake and there is no corroboration between officer Semple and the receiving officer at CID Headquarters and, so, the benefit of the doubt must go to the accused.
The trial is continuing.