–after constitutional motion by defence attorney

MURDER accused Azim Khan of Number 72 Village, Corentyne was granted $500,000 bail after Justice Franklyn Holder ruled that his constitutional right had been contravened.Sitting at the Berbice High Court, the judge urged that a new preliminary inquiry be started within 14 days and be concluded in 120 days. Further, it was ordered that the passport of the accused be lodged with the Clerk of Court, and that Khan should report to the Springlands Police Station every Monday at 15:00hrs.

In addition, the judge stipulated that Khan should attend each hearing of the preliminary inquiry and trial, failing which he would be arrested and placed into custody until the completion of the matter.
The order was triggered after Attorney-at-law Mursaline Bacchus had applied to the High Court, on May 18 last by way of a constitutional motion, for bail under Article 139[3] of the Constitution, which states that if a person is not tried within a reasonable time, he shall be placed on bail.

The fifty-year-old Azim Khan, a cane harvester, is accused of unlawfully killing his wife Herowattie Tekram at their home on November 5, 2009.

Khan was charged with murder on November 9, 2009, and after a preliminary inquiry before Magistrate Krishndat Persaud at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court, the accused was committed to stand trial at the October sitting of the Criminal Assizes in 2011.

In May 2012, the depositions were sent to the Registrar of the Supreme Court and the Director of Public Prosecutions. In August 2012, the DPP referred the matter to Magistrate Krishendat Persaud to reopen the inquiry, but by then Persaud no longer functioned as a magistrate. On January 29, 2015, the DPP, through a letter to the Registrar of the Supreme Court, purported to discontinue the committal. As a result, Bacchus challenged the committal on grounds that the DPP had no power to discontinue the committal.

On October 22, 2015, the Chief Justice agreed with the lawyer and quashed the decision, while the DPP subsequently entered a nolle prosequi in April 2016 and advised that a new charge be laid. The State was represented by Attorney Prithima Kissoon.

On November 5, 2009, at about 05:45 hours, Heerawattie Tekram, a mother of two, then aged 43 years, was found lying in her yard, bleeding profusely from incised marks about her throat, face, neck, back and head. Her husband was later arrested and charged with murder.