HISTORY was created on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts when a video conference was held before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to facilitate the testimony of the main witness in the murder trial of 22-year-old Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Private Abiola Jacobs, indicted for the murder of 55-year-old Agricolan Donna Taylor.
Jacobs, of Lot 55 Evan Phillips Park, Agricola, East Bank Demerara, has been remanded to prison for the capital offence since February 5 last.
Particulars of the charge she faces detail that on January 31 last, at Agricola Public Road, Greater Georgetown, she murdered Taylor.
She was not required to plead to the indictable offence, and was unrepresented on her first appearance in court.
However, on her second appearance, Attorney-at-Law Adrian Thompson entered an appearance for her.
The prosecutor who initially began proceedings in this matter, Corporal Bharat Mangru, is presently on leave, and Police Inspector Michael Grant held for Mangru during his absence.
Approximately 13 witnesses testified in the matter.
On Friday, Grant called the prosecution’s main witness, Samantha Sabatt, to testify in the matter. The 27-year-old woman is a citizen of the United Kingdom who had come to Guyana earlier this year on vacation.
Sabatt gave her evidence from the Guyana High Commission in the UK via Skype (an Online site which allows persons to see and talk to each other) for a few hours.
Witnessing this video conference were the relatives of the deceased and accused, the defence attorney, the prosecutor, police and the media.
The evidence was taken via Skype and was re-read to the witness, but the deposition was sent electronically to her. Sabatt read and signed the statements, and returned it electronically in the same manner it was sent.
Defence Counsel Thompson informed the court that the defence would be calling witnesses to testify on its behalf.
The date for continuation of this Preliminary Inquiry (PI) was set for September 9.
RECALL
Police report that Taylor’s body was found aback her Agricola home on Friday, January 31, with her throat slit, and her hands bound behind her. The cause of her death has been given as shock and haemorrhage due to multiple injuries. This is the official results of a post-mortem carried out on the body by Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh on February 3.
According to the police report, Sabat, Taylor’s friend, who had been a guest at her home at the time of the incident, was injured when she jumped from the window of the Lot 16/17 two-storey house in Agricola after persons had invaded the property.
