INDERJEET Sewdhad, accused of killing his stepfather, ran out of the Berbice Assizes on Wednesday morning, a free man, after Justice Franklyn Holder upheld a no-case submission and instructed a 12-member jury panel to return a verdict of not guilty in his favour.Sewdhad, 22 had pleaded not guilty to the indictment of murder which alleged that he murdered Deochan Singh on August 13, 2014, at Free Yard, Port Mourant, Corentyne. The decision by the judge was as a result of him throwing out the caution statement attributed to the accused. The caution statement was the body and soul of the prosecution’s case which was presented by State Prosecutrix Ms. Natasha Backer. Earlier, a four day voir dire [a trial within a trial] was held to determine whether the Judge’s Rules were breached with respect to the taking of the statement by Detective Corporal, Dinesh Baichu.The plainclothes policeman had told the Judge and jury, that he had gone to Free Yard , Port Mourant, where he saw the accused standing under the house while the lifeless remains of Deochan Singh was lying next to a fence. As a result of what he saw he put the allegation and subsequently cautioned the accused who related a story. Following an objection from Defense Counsel Tania Warren Clement, a smaller trial was triggered after which the judge ruled that he was not satisfied with the circumstances as to how the caution statement was obtained and deemed the document inadmissible. As a result Warren-Clement advanced a no case submission in the presence of the jury, which was upheld by the court.
Meanwhile, this newspaper had reported on August 13, 2014 a family feud ended tragically after the patriarch had sustained multiple stab wounds to his neck, before being tossed into a pool at his residence at Free Yard, Port Mourant. Prior to his death Deochand Singh, also known as Michael Singh and Mike, then aged 48 years, was a car driver and an alleged con artist. The gruesome attack took place just after 0:30h moments after Singh had returned home from a wake house a short distance from his home. The dead man’s wife Mandrani, had told reporters that he had left home at 17:30 hrs to attend a wake in the neighbourhood, and moments before she had telephone him, urging him to return home as he had stayed out late the previous night. The then suspect had allegedly planned the fatal assault on his stepfather with whom he had a grievance for over five years.