By George Barclay

JUSTICE Jo-Ann Barlow yesterday overruled the defence’s no-case submissions in the Mocha schoolgirl murder case and called on the two accused – Jevon Wharton, 25 and Charles Collin Cush, 23, to appear for the defence.The no-case submissions were decided by defence lawyers Maxwell Mc Kay and D. Kissoon on Tuesday following the close of the case for the prosecution.

The Prosecution conducted by State lawyers Shonette Austin and Siand Dhurjon built their case on witnesses who testified to the effect that nine-year-old schoolgirl Seda Stoby was on her way to school at the Mocha Primary, walking along a dam when she was kidnapped, raped and allegedly murdered by the killers, in order to escape the crime.

The accused pleaded not guilty but made caution statements to the Police, admitting the crime.

In Court, they denied certain aspects of the statement, and claimed that although their signatures were on the document, they only answered yes and no, and the entire document was not theirs.

One of the witnesses, Dr Mohan Persaud told the jury that the Number one accused had abrasions and lacerations on his penis while the number 2 accused had abrasions on his penis and back.

Persaud had examined the men, after they had been picked up by the police in 2007.

The accused were aged 16 and 14 at the time when it is alleged that they held up the girl while she was on her way to school.
When questioned by Prosecutor Mr. Siand Dhurjon, Dr Persaud said that the injuries on the boys’ penises were consistent with them having sex with someone when there was a lack of lubrication.

In answer to defence counsel, the doctor also said that the lacerations and abrasions, could have been due to masturbation.

The father, Mr. Eric Stoby, and a search party began a search for the girl after she left her Mocha home for school that Friday morning and failed to return that afternoon.
According to him it was not until the afternoon of the second day that he found his daughter in a swollen condition in a muddy dam with little water not far from an aqueduct . She was dead and partly naked with her feet spread apart, Mr. Stoby had said.
The alleged murderers picked up by the police as suspects included Jevon Wharton who was then, 16, and Charles Collin Cush, 14.
Following the investigations, during which the accused are alleged to have made caution statements admitting the crime, both young men were indicted with murder.

This is their second trial. Their first trial ended with a hung jury, which was unable to reach an agreement.

The accused began their defence yesterday with sworn statements from the witness box, in which they maintained that they are innocent.

They were subjected to vigorous cross-examination from the prosecutors.

The trial will continue on Friday when, according to the judge, the defence will end and lawyers on both sides will conclude their addresses to the jury.

The judge is expected to sum up her evidence to the jury next Monday.