MURDER accused Alvin Gounga, called “Orvin” or “Captain”, on trial for the murder of Desmond Henry, which allegedly occurred on May 14th, 2005 at Port Kaituma in the North West District of Region One (Barima/Waini), will know his fate today.Justice Roxane George, presiding at the trial, will this morning begin summing up the case to the jury before handing same over to them for their consideration and verdict.

Defence Counsel Dexter Todd and State Prosecutor Ms. Narissa Leander each addressed the jury on Monday. Todd noted that the case was a short one in which the accused, a gold miner, is alleged to have shot Desmond Henry with a bow and arrow on May 14, 2005, causing his death. The jury was told that the shooting was sparked by an argument in which the defendant accused the deceased about missing gold, and the deceased allegedly attacked the accused with a fork and an axe, causing him to use his bow and arrow in defence.

Defence counsel urged the jury to find that the prosecution’s star witness, daughter of the deceased, was not speaking the truth when she denied that her dad was shot in defence, and he exhorted the jury to return a verdict of not guilty.

On the other hand, Prosecutor Ms. Leander referred to the defence case as an unbelievable nancy story. She said there was no justification for the accused to use the bow and arrow in defence, and pointed out that the defendant had been the aggressor.
According to her, neither the fork nor the axe had been used until after Henry had been hit in the abdomen by a single arrow. The case for the prosecution is that after Henry was shot, he threw a fork and axe at the accused.

Government Pathologist Dr. Nehaul Singh, who had performed the post-mortem on the deceased, said that death was due to wound infection.
The doctor said the deceased would have survived if he had received early treatment.

The prosecutor has urged the jury to return a verdict of guilty, once satisfied that the case had been proven against the accused.

Justice George will begin her summing up at 09:30hrs this morning.