A 45-year-old fisherman on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to the gruesome murder and rape of 65-year-old Bibi Keniez whose lifeless body was found in her Cornelia Ida, West Coast Demerara (WCD) home four years ago.

Jaipaul Hitlall called “Latta” formerly of Anna Catherina, Sea View, WCD, is on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-membery jury at the Demerara High Court.
It is alleged that Hitlall between October 2 and October 3, 2016, murdered Keniez in the course or furtherance of a sexual offence, that is to say, rape.
The trial commenced on Wednesday with a voir dire.

Hitlall is currently serving a 20-year jail sentence for raping a woman on December 29, 2016, at Cornelia Ida. The sentence was imposed by Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall at the Demerara High Court in November 2019.

According to reports, the woman while on the seashore, was attacked by Hitlall and raped. He then dragged her to a boat and raped her again.
Hitlall, after realising that he knew the victim, begged her not to report him to the police and she agreed. The next day, the victim reported the matter to the police.

Hitlall, after his arrest, was implicated in Keniez’s murder. The elderly woman’s lifeless body was found in a hammock with almost a dozen stab wounds. Investigators believed that the woman was raped before she was stabbed to death. She was not wearing underwear and her skirt was pulled up to her chest when she was found.