STATE prosecutor, Cicelia Corbin, on Friday, closed her case against
Shawn DosSantos and Stephon Howard, who are on trial for the 2017 murder of Fazal Shaheed at his Freeman Street, East La Penitence house.

The matter is being heard by Justice Jo-Ann Barlow at the Demerara High Court.

The two accused, who are also residents of Freeman Street, have denied murdering Shaheed, 58, a Berbice businessman, during the course of a robbery on September 24, 2017.

They are being represented by attorneys-at-law  Nigel Hughes, Konyo Sandiford and associates.

During Friday’s hearing, Corbin closed her case after a police witness was further cross-examined.

The duo, in their defence, opted to give an unsworn statement in court. Both men maintained that they were innocent of the allegation.

“I never kill nobody…I don’t even know why I’m here at this time. I’m innocent of this crime,” DosSantos told the court.

The judge then adjourned the matter until November 22, 2021, for the hearing of closing statements.

The Guyana Chronicle had reported that, on Sunday, September 24, 2017, gunmen stormed Shaheed’s home while relatives were making final preparations for the patriarch’s one-year memorial service.

Fazal Shaheed was reportedly in the yard at around 00:40 hours when the gunmen struck while his two brothers, sisters and mother were in the house. His brothers, Talim and Shalim, who had come in from Canada and the US respectively for the service, were both shot about their bodies.

The suspects reportedly told the police that the gun that was used in the commission of the crime was borrowed from a friend.

They reportedly claimed that after seeing “strange faces” in the street, and having learnt that the persons were foreigners, they planned the robbery.