One year later…Eight accused in murder of Meten-meer-Zorg grocer still to hear State’s case
The persons charged with the murder of Zulficar Namdar
Yesterday marked one year since the eight persons charged with the murder of a Meten-meer-Zorg grocer appeared in court and are incarcerated pending a pretrial hearing. The octet, which includes a mother of one, was indicted before Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry on September 20, last year for the murder of the businessman, Zulficar Namdar. The 25-year-old entrepreneur was reportedly shot and killed after heavily-armed, masked gunmen invaded the family’s Lot 76 Third Street Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara home on September 10, last. Namdar was murdered whilst his mother was robbed of $1.3M worth in jewellery and $320,000 in cash. Ten days after the incident, Jermaine ‘Yankee’ Williams, 37; Esan Lawrence, 34; Delwyn Croft, 33; Khyran ‘50 cents’ Khan, 27; Samuel Bacchus, 39; Andrew ‘Sonic’ Chandler, 35; Alan Dorsett, 39 and his 32-year-old wife Cassindra Singh were brought before the courts on a murder charge. They have been remanded to prison since the September 20, 2013 hearing but to date, the accused are yet to hear the State’s case against them. At first the absence of a permanent Magistrate at the Leonora Magistrate’s Court had stalled the commencement of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI). When Magistrate Judy Latchman presided at the Leonora court on Thursday, she was ready to start the Preliminary Inquiry but the Prosecution wasn’t. She heard arguments that day from Defence Attorneys Nigel Hughes, Melville Duke and Pamela De Santos who were adamant that the continuous delays were a breach of their clients’ constitutional rights. They contended that the constitution specifies that a fair trial must be conducted within a reasonable amount of time. The lawyers said that their clients have instead been languishing for a year as remanded prisoners with countless fruitless court appearances. The Attorneys-at-Law informed Magistrate Latchman that they filed a writ of mandamus petition in the Supreme Court against Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry seeking to have the matter commence and dealt with expeditiously but have to date received no formal response. Thereafter, Magistrate Latchman ordered the Prosecution, spearheaded by Sergeant Matthews, to bring the first witness to stand. There were about four present on that occasion but the Prosecution informed that it had failed to brief any of the witnesses. The Magistrate, in response, admonished the Prosecution for being unprepared and recorded the circumstances accordingly. Given the situation, the PI could not have commenced and the case was once again adjourned. It is set to be called again on October 2