COME September 29, Justice Sandil Kissoon is expected to sum up the evidence in the trial of the 2008 murder of 76-year-old Ruby, East Bank Essequibo (EBE) businessman, Habiboodean.

His daughter, Bibi Nazeela Habiboodean, and Linden Lewis, the man she allegedly hired to carry out the murder, have both pleaded not guilty to the offence which was committed on February 15, 2008 at Ruby.

Following the summing up at the Demerara High Court, the judge will hand the case over to the 12-member jury, who will then retire to consider the verdict.

The state is being represented by Senior State Prosecutor Lisa Cave, while attorneys-at-law Latchmie Rahamat and Roger Yearwood are on record for the accused.

It is alleged that Bibi not only hired Lewis to kill her father, but also helped him to gain access to his home on the day of the murder.

Reports are that when the “hitman” entered the businessman’s home, he found the elderly businessman sitting in a chair, and proceeded to strike him repeatedly, causing him to later succumb to his injuries at a hospital.

Bibi was charged along with another man, shortly after the murder was committed, but they were both discharged by a magistrate due to insufficient evidence. Lewis, who had fled to the “interior”, was arrested by the police two years later.

Word is that the police got a breakthrough in the case after Lewis and four others were detained for the murder of Mohamed Munir, 75, and his wife Bibi Jamila Munir, 69, who were reportedly burnt to death at their Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo home in 2016.

While in custody, someone tipped off investigators that Lewis had vital information about Habiboodean’s death. He allegedly confessed and told the police that he was paid by Bibi to kill her father.

Shortly after, Bibi turned herself in to the police, and reportedly provided investigators with a statement that was consistent with that given by her father’s alleged killer. Bibi and Lewis were later charged.