GOVERNMENT Pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh yesterday testified in the
Rondell Bacchus murder trial, presently ongoing in the Demerara High Court before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a 12-member jury.Dr Singh told the court that he performed a post-mortem on the deceased, Akbar Alli. He gave the cause of Alli’s death as gunshot injuries to the chest.

He said there was massive internal bleeding, since a bullet had perforated the lung and severed an artery, and the victim would have survived for only about half an hour, or an hour at most.

The final witness, Rameena Bibi Hydar Alli, is expected to testify via Skype, since she currently resides overseas.

Bacchus, of ‘C’ Field, Sophia Squatting Area, is indicted for the murder of scrap metal dealer Akbar Alli, whom he allegedly gunned downed during a robbery at Brickdam, Georgetown on July 24, 2008.

On the same occasion, Bacchus is alleged to have used a handgun to rob the man’s wife, Rameena Bibi Hydar Alli, of $2M in cash.

During the trial before Justice Navindra Singh in 2015, Alli had testified via audiovisual link (Skype) that she had positively identified Bacchus at an identification parade in Georgetown sometime after the shooting. However, some members of the jury were apparently in doubt about the evidence which was presented before the court, thus that trial had ended in a hung jury.

It is alleged that on July 24, 2008, on Brickdam, Georgetown, Andrew Morris, 34, of 263 East La Penitence, and Bacchus used a gun to rob Bibi Hydar Alli of $2.1M, and also murdered her husband, Akbar Alli.

Andrew Morris was also charged in connection with this robbery/murder, but the matter against him was dismissed in the Magistrate’s Court due to lack of evidence.

A police press release issued in July, 2008 had stated that Alli and his wife had gone to a city bank to do business. They later went to Brickdam with the intention of transacting business with an auto dealer. Alli parked his motor vehicle, and as he and his wife stepped out of the vehicle, she was holding the bag containing the cash. They were then robbed at gunpoint by two men on a motorcycle. Reports were that Alli began running behind the motorcycle, and the armed man who was the pillion rider then shot him in the chest. Alli died of that gunshot wound.