STATE Prosecutor Mr. Ganesh Hira yesterday delivered his opening address in the Grove Squatting area murder trial with the headline, “Battered woman succumbs from injuries dealt by hands of her husband.”

Mr. Hira was addressing the jury at the murder trial in which accused Mark Samuels is accused of the murder of his reputed wife Chandrawattie Lalla, called Anjie, between November 23 and 24, 2007.

The Prosecutor told Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a mixed jury at the Demerara Assizes, that this is just another case where domestic violence between husband and wife get the better of the positions.

According to the prosecutor the accused and the deceased lived at Grove Squatting Area on the East Bank of Demerara. It was in no way a smooth relationship. The accused would beat up his wife from time to time.

One such beating came between November 23 and 24, 2007 and death was the result.

The prosecutor disclosed that it was the stench from the body of the dead woman that caused persons to discover the dead woman covered in a small house with the accused. The woman’s decomposed body was found on the bed covered with a sheet while the accused who orally admitted committing the crime was found on the floor in the same house.

The oral confession was admitted by the judge but a written caution statement was thrown out of evidence by the judge who had conducted a voir dire to determine the issue.

Lawyer, Mr. Huckumchand with his assistant Miss Jamini Parag had objected to both statements.

A curious neighbour who followed the scent and peeped through a crease in the house was able to see the dead woman. He called in the Police who called on the accused to open the door. The accused refused and the Police were forced to break down the door to gain entry.

When the Police discovered the decomposed body of the woman, and the accused was questioned about the corpse he said to Constable Paddy – “Is meh wife, ah lash she with a piece of wood – is me kill she. Ah fed up wid she.”

The prosecutor went on to say that the accused was later taken to the Grove Police Station where he was later charged with murder following investigations.

The body of the woman was taken to the cemetery where a post mortem examination was performed.
The hearing continues.