…Judge to rule on admissibility

By Jeune Bailey Van Keric

JUSTICE  Sandil Kissoon will rule whether the statements attributed to scalping murder accused women, Hemwantie Abdulla and Seerojini Permaul, were given free and voluntary, and did not breach the Judges’ rule.

Almost two weeks ago, a voire dire {a trial within a trial} was triggered in the murder case after defence counsel Mursalene Bacchus and Nigel Hughes respectively, objected to statements attributed to the accused women who face a joint indictment of murder committed on United States citizen Abdool Shakeel Majid.

The lawyers who had consented to a single smaller trial had submitted that among other legal issues there was a breach of Rule Two of the Judges’ rule.
Earlier, Detective Corporal Dwayne Harvey, had testified to seeing the scalpless, battered body of an unidentified male of East Indian ancestry, dressed in a multi-coloured shorts at the Number 63 Beach on April 27, 2012.

The body of the deceased was riddled with marks of violence. His left arm was broken and one finger was fitted with a white metal ring with three stones encircled.
After taking photographs, the remains were taken to Skeldon and New Amsterdam Hospitals respectively, where post mortem examinations were conducted by Dr. Nehaul Singh.

The witness recalled it was on May 15, 2012 that  Nafeeezuel Hack, was taken to the New Amsterdam mortuary , where he identified the body of Abdool Shakeel Majid.
Further, five days later, at 07:30hrs, he was instructed to go to the Enquiries Department, where, he contacted Hemwantie Abdulla  and with the assistance of a female rank, took her to the Criminal Investigation Department, where Detective Sergeant Joseph told the accused of the allegation that she murdered her husband between April 26 and 27, 2012 at the Number 63 beach.

On Tuesday, February 13, Justice Sandil Kissoon commenced hearing the scalping murder trial in which  Hemwattie Abdulla called Annie and Anese, along with Seerojane Permaul known as Surojnie or Usher, are  accused of unlawfully killing Abdool Shakeel Majid, a citizen of the USA on April 26, 2012 at Number 63 beach, Corentyne, Berbice. They have pleaded not guilty to the murder indictment.

Majid, along with his wife of four months Hemwattie Abdulla , had arrived in Guyana on April 22, 2012 with the intention of spending a two-week vacation .
But five days later, the battered, lifeless body of Majid, whose scalp was missing, was found on the popular beach.

In the meanwhile, Abdulla had returned to the United States of America, where she is a resident and had informed relatives of deceased that her husband  was enjoying himself in Surinam, and that he had urged her to return home as her daughter had sustained  a fractured  arm.

The deceased brother, Abdul Hasseeb Majid, of Jamaica, Queens, USA, in his testimony before the mixed 12- member jury, recounted the last time he saw his brother alive, and thereafter it was the utterances of Hemwattie Abdulla, the number one accused, which caused him to make a missing person report at the New York City Police Department , before travelling to Guyana, where at his local address at Diamond Housing Scheme he discovered his sibling’s suitcase, clothing ,United States of America passport, along with other personal documents.