THE Turtle Creek Road, Five Star Backdam murder trial of city gold miner/dredge owner Timothy Adams began in the Georgetown High Court on Monday before Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a 12-member jury.

On trial is Marlon Freeman who was indicted for the alleged December 23, 2013 murder which took place at North West District (NWD).

In presenting the state’s case, Prosecutor Lisa Cave told the court that between December 22 and 23, 2013 the accused allegedly murdered the miner.

The accused has since pleaded not guilty and is being represented by defence attorney Folio Richards.

The first witness Detective Corporal Collis Duke testified that in December 2013 he was stationed at Matthews Ridge Police Station (CID) and at about 15:00hrs he was on duty when he received some information via telephone and he was given certain instructions.

He went to Turtle Creek Road, Five Star Backdam, (NWD) and on arrival at the alleged murder scene he saw a green All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) in the area with license plate CG 6335 which was in a stationery position.

Duke told the court he observed a motionless body of a male which was face down. He later learnt that it was Timothy Adams, a gold miner of Georgetown.

The police witness said he examined the body and saw there was a reddish substance which appeared to be blood oozing from a wound at the right side of the neck.

Duke related that he escorted the body to the Pakera District Hospital and was present when a doctor on duty examined the body and pronounced him dead.

He added that on December 24, 2013 he returned to the hospital and uplifted the body and took it to Port Kaituma Hospital where he placed the body in the mortuary.

Duke said he was present when a post mortem was conducted in the city by Dr. Nehaul Singh after he had escorted the body via a private chartered aircraft to Georgetown and was also there for the burial.

The police witness testified that he uplifted the post mortem report form CID headquarters and lodged same at the Port Kaituma Police Station and on February 1, 2018 he printed 16 photos which he took of the crime scene back in 2013.

At this point, a voir dire was called to determine the admissibility of evidence in the trial.