–Says brother was killed in Longden St, not Water St

STAR witness in the Jermain Simon murder case, Sherwin Simon, the ‘plantain chips’ man of Better Hope, ‘East Coast Demerara, who earlier told Justice Franklin Holder that he and his brother Jermain Simon were selling plantain chips in the city when Jermain was killed in Water Street by vendor Tony Collymore, yesterday said he had erred in naming the street in which the tragedy had occurred.He then told Justice Franklyn Holder, “I am a country boy, I got mix up with the streets in town. I now learnt that the street where the incident took place was Longden Street, and not Water Street, as I stated earlier.”

The witness was under cross-examination by Defence Counsel Euclin Gomes, who wanted to find out why it took him so long to determne the correct name of the street. Counsel suggested to the witness that he got mixed up with the names because he was not around, and was only speaking about what he heard. Witness denied the suggestion.

Earlier, this witness had said that he was about 15 feet away from the stall in Longden Street where his brother Jermain and a vendor, the accused Tony Collymore, were involved in an argument. He said he was attracted by a sudden noise that caused him to turn around in time to see Tony inflicting the injury to his brother.

Defence counsel suggested to the witness that he was not around and could not have seen anything, but witness denied the suggestion and declared that he was responsible for taking his brother to the Georgetown Hospital.

When he was asked by counsel whether he had seen the accused at the hospital that night, witness said yes, and declared that the accused was trying to speak to him, but he did not respond. Witness also said that he saw what appeared to be blood on a jersey which the accused was wearing at the time.

Prosecutrix Miss Diana Kaulesar is conducting the case for the prosecution, and the trial is continuing.

(George Barclay)