THE trial into the 2014 murder of two sisters and their father commenced on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, before Brassington Reynolds, at the Demerara High Court and a mixed 12-member jury.

Ganga Kishna called ‘Buddie’ and ‘Scientist’, a 74-year-old businessman, formerly of North Road, Bourda, Georgetown and his assistant, Avishkar Bissoon, 26, of Sheriff Street, Campbellville are on remand for three counts of murder.

Two charges stated that, on November 17, 2014, at Lot 65 King and Robb Street, Georgetown, the men murdered Clarissa, 14 and Tressa Rozario, 11 in the course or furtherance of arson on their dwelling house.

The last charge stated that, on December 21, 2014, the men murdered 63-year-old Hilrod Attlee Thomas also called Rudolph Thomas.

On Wednesday, John Pyneandy, a businessman, took to the witness stand and gave his evidence in the case.
Pyneandy explained that, in 2014, he rented the lower flat of the three-storey building at Lot 65 King and Robb Street, Georgetown from Jeffery Thomas, the brother of Hilrod Thomas.

The witness explained that Hilrod Thomas and his two daughters lived in the top flat of the building and were close to him.
According to the businessman, he operated an ice-cream parlor along with this import business at the premises.

He explained that Kishna was known to him since he was a friend of his father and he would see him around at Robb Street.
The witness recalled that, during the month of April 2014, he had summoned the police since Kishna was using a blow torch connected to a 100 pound gas cylinder to cut open the iron grills to get into his business place.

At the time Kishna was in the company of Bissoon, who was holding the grill. The man refused to stop cutting the grills when warned by the police officers.
However, about 15-minutes later, after being back and forth with the police, Kishna stopped entered his car to get some papers.
Kishna presented the documents to the officer, and claimed that he was the owner of the building.

Both parties were taken to the Brickdam Police Station, and Kishna was warned by a police officer not to go back by the building and let the court deal with it.
However, Pyneandy stressed Kishna showed up at his business place and was speaking with a number of persons claiming that he was the owner of the property.
“I approached him and asked him to leave, and the then turned to me and said the property is his own” Pyneandy told the court.

Shocked by Kishna’s remark, the witness said that he asked him if he was a “mad man”
“You’re going to see who is a mad man when I burn it (the building) down” Pyneandy said that Kishna told him.

Again, the matter was reported and both parties went to the Brickdam Police Station.
Kishna was warned to keep away from the property and was released.
“We were leaving the station when he turned to me and said I’ll regret all the money I invested in the building” the witness recounted the man told him “The last time I burned it, it didn’t come down and this time I’ll bring it down.”

In his response to Kishna’s threats, Pyneandy told the man that he would be jailed if he tried such actions, but the man said to him that he would pay someone to do it for him.
Fast forwarding to the wee hours of the morning of November 17, 2014, Pyneandy told the court the Robb Street property was torched and everything was lost.

The man told the court that the building was uninsured and he did not see the two sisters and their father.

The matter continues on August 22, 2019.

The two accused were represented by Attorneys Mursaline Bacchus and Dexter Todd, while the state was represented by prosecutors Seeta Bishundial and Lisa Cave.

The prosecution was contending that, on November 17, 2014, at about 02:00 hours, Clarissa and Tressa Rozario were peacefully asleep at their Lot 65 King and Robb Street, Georgetown home along with their father, Thomas. It is alleged that, while they were asleep, their house was set afire, and they died in the inferno.

Their father managed to jump through a window to escape the flames but he sustained second and third-degree burns. On December 21, 2014, he succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC).

The prosecution is claiming that Kishna was the mastermind behind the fire, while Bissoon acted as his assistant.

The Guyana Chronicle had previously reported that investigations in this matter took the police two years, then a drug addict reportedly confessed that he was offered money to set fire to the disputed building.

Police believe that the building was torched to drive out individuals who were also claiming ownership of the property by prescriptive rights.