THE Berbice High Court trial into the murder of phone card vendor Danian Anthony Jagdeo, who was gunned down during a robbery in 2017, is expected to commence on February 17, 2022, before a 12-member jury.

Mark Dhuman, Abdul Andre Azimullah, Abdul Zahir, Shannon Batson, and Satesh Budhram appeared before Justice Sandil Kissoon on Monday.

The men denied that on February 8, 2017, they murdered 35-year-old Jagdeo during a robbery at Adventure Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

The state will be represented by prosecutor Abigail Gibbs during the trial. Dhuman is unrepresented, while attorneys-at-law Siand Dhurjon, Moti Singh, Ravindra Mohabir, and Surihya Sabsook are on record for the other accused.

The Guyana Chronicle had previously reported that, on the day in question, Jagdeo was making a delivery to Soman’s Grocery when one of two men followed him into the shop and opened fire.

The gunman relieved the injured Jagdeo of a bag that contained an undisclosed sum of cash and a quantity of phone cards before escaping with his accomplice, who was waiting on a motorcycle a short distance away.

Jagdeo, a 36-year-old father of four of King Street, Williamsburg, was a phone card agent who serviced the entire East Berbice-Corentyne area.