WHEN the murder trial of Clive Knights continued at the Demerara Assizes yesterday, Justice Navindra Singh and a mixed jury heard that the accused was defending himself against a man who was forcefully sodomising him. This claim was made in the caution statement by the murder accused, which was found by the judge to have been given freely and voluntarily to the police.
The judge gave that ruling after he had conducted a voir dire (a trial within a trial) to determine the admissibility of the statement.
Following the killing of Bert Whyte on May 14th 2012, Knights was arrested and charged with murder. The charge is said to have resulted from a caution statement which the accused gave to Detective Constable Kester Cosbert.
The statement to the detective constable read: “Keste, I reach Whyte while I was working at PHG and we became friends and started hanging out together with other friends. On one evening that we went drinking he said that he was a homosexual and wanted us to start a relationship. I told him no, but we can still be friends and that his way of life had nothing to do with me. Whyte said that it was okay and we continued to go out and drink. Both of us left the job at the hospital and started working different places but would call each other.
“On Monday 14th May 2012, I travelled to Georgetown from Berbice very early to do some business and finished late. I was very tired but Whyte and I talked over the phone and decided to have a drink. We went to a bar in William Street, Campbellville.
“I drank a couple of beers and he drank liquor. I fell asleep about two hours on the table because I was tired and high.”
According to the accused, “The next thing I recognised that I was being sodomised. I grabbed an ice pick and stabbed away at Whyte. I did not intend to kill Whyte. I am sorry, he was my friend.”
Prosecuting in the matter are Mrs. Judith Mursalin and Miss Narissa Leander. Attorney-at-Law Miss Konyo Thompson is defending. The hearing is continuing.
By George Barclay