By Michel Outridge

KEVIN Rankin, called ‘Lil Man’, is being tried by Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a 12-member jury in the Demerara High Court for the alleged October 21, 2013 murder of his two-year-old niece, Kimani Phillips.Government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, testifying yesterday, gave the cause of death as haemorrhage and shock due to multiple abdominal injuries. He told the court that the child was anally penetrated, and had injuries to her head and neck as well. Dr Singh contended that the injuries may be consistent with those of a fall, or if the child had been forcibly pressed down, which caused abdominal trauma to the spleen, liver, and other body parts.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Sandil Kissoon, Dr. Singh was asked whether he could determine if the anal penetration of the child was caused by a penis or an object, and he replied in the negative.

Although samples were taken from the body of the two-year-old in a post-mortem examination, Dr Singh, when questioned, said he did not receive a copy of the results of examination done on those samples.

Kissoon suggested that if CPR had been administered to the child by an untrained person, the abdominal injuries could have been caused, and Dr Singh concurred.

Dr Singh told the court that the anal penetration and abdominal injuries were caused at the same time.

Public Health Nurse Nadine Saunders, who on October 21, 2013 was attached to the Dr CC Nicholson Hospital at Nabaclis, East Coast Demerara, testified yesterday that she did a basic examination of Kimani Phillips.
She explained that she checked for a pulse and heart rate but found none, the child was not responding, and she contacted the doctor via telephone and wrote up a referral to GPHC based on the doctor’s advice.

She noted that she was not a licensed medical practitioner to certify death, and at the time she examined the child, the child’s pupils were dilated.

Saunders is expected to be present in court at 09:00 today, when she will be cross-examined by the defence counsel.

The child was Rankin’s niece. He was 15 years old at the time, and was home from school, having been suspended for fighting.

State Prosecutor Narissa Leander contends that the accused was left at home at Lot 46 Haslington South, East Coast Demerara while his mother Diane Graham went on an errand. Graham’s daughter’s children were left in her care, and the children were taken to the front house by relatives when Diane Graham went out on October 21, 2013.

The prosecution’s case is based on circumstantial evidence, which, they contend, when pieced together, would paint a perfect picture of how Rankin inflicted on the two-year-old child injuries which caused her death.

Leander added that even though the incident took place three years ago, the state will call several witnesses to testify. She asked members of the jury to only consider the evidence given in the courtroom.

Three months after the incident, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) recommended that Rankin be charged for murder, and he was re-arrested and arraigned in the Magistrate’s Court.

It was reported that Kimani Phillips was the victim of a brutal sexual assault (sodomy) after it was observed that her anus was enlarged and she had a bite mark on her neck. However, this was disputed among some family members.