AFTER spending the last four years on remand, an 18-year-old, was, on Friday, freed of a murder charge which alleged that he bludgeoned Mahaicony businesswoman, Bibi Nesha Shairoon to death, in 2016.

The teen was on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member mixed jury at the Demerara High Court.
He had denied that, between October 15 and October 17, 2016, at Lot 4, Novar, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD), he murdered Shairoon called “Shakeela”.
He was tried as a juvenile since he was 14 years old when he was charged with the capital offence.

The State was represented by prosecutor, Tuanna Hardy, while Attorney-at-law, Bernard DaSilva, represented the teen.
The jury, after deliberations, returned a unanimous “not guilty” verdict in favour of the teen.

Last year, co-accused Devanand Rampersaud, called “Juju”, a 27-year-old former fisherman of Berbice, was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after serving 25 years. He had opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.

Shairoon’s bound body was discovered in her home on October 17, 2016, by a worried relative who had not seen her in two days.
The woman, who lived alone, operated a grocery store that also sold garden chemicals, cell-phone cards and cell-phones. The store was located in the lower flat of her house.

She was found with her feet and hands tied, and with what appeared to be marks of violence about her body, primarily her head.
The intruders had gained access to the house by ripping out a few boards of the wall on the lower flat, and after ransacking the place, carted off a number of valuables, including money and phone cards.

The teenager became a suspect after residents revealed that he used to help the woman in the shop, and had had an argument with her.
Rampersaud had confessed to beating the woman in the head with a frying pan, but accused the teen of being the mastermind of the murder and robbery.