Statement by No. 1 accused ruled inadmissible in voir dire

A VOIR DIRE (a trial within a trial) held to determine the admissibility of a caution statement by the number one accused in the Abary murder trial, ended with the statement being thrown out and rendered inadmissible in evidence.
Justice Wiliam Ramlal, the presiding judge who conducted the voir dire in the absence of the jury, delivered the ruling at the conclusion of the small trial.
The number three accused, Satnarine Jaikarran, is represented by lawyer, Mr. Jailall Kissoon; accused Neville Crawford is represented by attorneys-at-law Mr. Sandil Kissoon and Miss Rinee Kissoon and accused Randy Crawford is represented by lawyer Mr. Satyesh Kissoon.
Following the ruling in the voir dire, Prosecutrix Miss Dhanika Singh called as her first witness in the substantive trial Sgt. Benaise Adams of the Turkeyen Police Outpost who is attached to the Criminal Investigations Department.
He testified that on June 29, 2010 on the day in question he was on duty when as a result of a report received about an alleged stabbing at Little Abary, Mahaicony, he visited the scene where he saw the body of a man lying on the parapet in a north to south position.
The body, he said, was attired in a dark pants. The witness said that he left the body on the roadside and returned to the station. According to him when he first saw the man, he was bleeding from the left hand.
The injuries, he said, revealed a chop on the back about four inches in length and a haematoma (a mass of usually clotted blood) over the left eye and injured fingers.
The defence lawyers are alleging that Sgt. Adams did not examine the injured man as he was supposed to do and returned to the station without taking him for treatment.
Adams was expected to be cross-examined at length yesterday afternoon.
The hearing of the matter is continuing before Justice Ramlal and a mixed jury.

(By George Barclay)