THE trial into the 2014 murder of two sisters and their father continued on Tuesday, August 27, 2019, before Justice Brassington Reynolds and a mixed 12-member jury at the Demerara High Court.

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 Streets, 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.

The two accused were represented by Attorneys Mursaline Bacchus and Dexter Todd, while the state was represented by prosecutors Seeta Bishundial and Lisa Cave.
On Tuesday, the hearing continued with the testimony of Rosemary Rozario, the mother of the two girls and the reputed wife of Thomas. Also testifying was Deputy Superintendent of Police Sawh.

The trial will continue today, Wednesday, September 28, 2019.
Previously, Thomas’ sister, Hazel Thomas, testified on identifying her brother’s body while at the Georgetown Public Hospital Mortuary.

Also, John Pyneandy, a businessman, who in 2014, 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 had also testified.

The witness testified that, during the month of April 2014, 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 and he had to summon the police.

At the time Kishna was in the company of Bissoon, who was holding the grill. Kishna presented the documents to the officer, and claimed that he was the owner of the building.
Sometime later, the witness explained that he had a confrontation with Kishna, who kept claiming that he was the owner of the property.
The witness is contending that Kishna threatened him twice to burn the property and even confessed to attempting to torch the place.

When Pyneandy told Kishna that he would be jailed if he tried such actions, the man (Kishna) told 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 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 Streets 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.