JUSTICE Navindra Singh, presiding in the Berbice Criminal Assizes, upheld defence submissions and freed Bheem Evans, called ‘Lujo’, of responsibility for the death of Jaipaul Sampuran, alias ‘Jai’, which occurred at Number 11 Village, West Coast Berbice between June 28 and 29, 2013.

Defence counsel Mr Raymond Ali was able to establish that Evans had acted in self-defence.

In his caution statement, Evans had told investigators that he was at a wedding house when a man, whom he identified by his ethnicity, accused him of stealing a bicycle.

“He started to lash me, and I run. He ran behind me. I got vex and I picked up a piece of wood and I lash he three times. He fell. I ran to the backlands, as I did not want the police to catch me; but they found me”, Evans’s caution statement had read.

Detective Corporal Dharmendra Indarpaul testified that he was stationed at the Fort Wellington Police Station when, on June 29, 2013, he visited the scene of an alleged crime at the residence of Mohammed Sheriff Khan at Number 11 Village.

The corporal said he had observed the motionless body of a male, identified as Jaipaul Sampuran, lying face downwards. He said he had observed that a piece of wood was under the hand of the deceased, and that next to the head of the deceased was another piece of lumber lying, upon which were bloodstains.

He said he had given instructions to Crime Scene Investigator Lance Corporal Baichoo, who, after taking photographs, had observed a wound behind the left ear of the deceased.

The body was transported to the Fort Wellington Hospital mortuary by hearse belonging to Bailey’s Funeral Home, and a post-mortem examination was subsequently conducted by Dr Vivikanand Brijmohan, who revealed that the cause of Sampuran’s death was cerebral haemorrhage and fractures of the skull.

Consequently, the accused was arrested in the Number 11 backlands; and, under caution, he showed the witness the injury he also had sustained to his head, allegedly inflicted by the deceased.

As a result, he was taken to the Fort Wellington Hospital, where he was seen by a medical practitioner, who issued a medical certificate.

In her address to the jury, State Prosecutrix Ms Natasha Backer had said the prosecution would attempt to prove the four elements of murder, in that it was Jaipaul Sampuran, who was killed; he had died within a day and a year of the incident; at the time the offence was committed, the accused had intended to kill or cause him grevious bodily harm; and at the time of the incident, the accused did not inflict injuries on the deceased by accident, self-defence, or through provocation.

But in his submissions, Defence Counsel Raymond Ali, citing legal authorities, noted that his client had acted in self-defence.

Addressing Bheem Evans after the jury had been instructed to return a formal verdict of not guilty, Justice Singh told him: “Mr Evans, the court has found you not guilty. Based on the evidence, Jaipaul was attacking you, and you were defending yourself. You will not be penalised for that. All I can tell you is: you see how easy it was to get into problem? Avoid problems. You are discharged from custody.”

By Jeune Bailey Vankeric