Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
May 21, 2017 News
A caution statement given to police by Maryanna Lionel, one of the women accused of offering a $4M payment to Sergeant Kamal Pitama, a rank from the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, for him to suppress evidence against four men accused of killing Berbice carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt, has been ruled admissible.
Lionel, 25, and Sharmilla Inderjali, 45, both of Number 71 Village, Corentyne, Berbice are currently out on $1.5M bail each – on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice – with instructions to report to the Springlands Police Station pending the outcome of the matter.
It is alleged that on November 19, 2016 at Eve Leary, Georgetown, they contacted Sergeant Pitama and offered him $4M in cash to forgo charges against four murder accused who were at the time in custody pending investigation into the murder of Narinedatt.
The four murder accused are Radesh Motie, 39, of Lot 124 Number 78 Village, Corentyne, Berbice; Diadath Datt, 18, of Lot 98 Number 71 Village, Corentyne, Berbice; Harripaul Parsram, 49, of Lot 164 Number 71 Village, Corentyne, Berbice and Niran Yacoob, 37, of Lot 65 Number 67 Village, Corentyne Berbice. Orlando Dickie, 39, of Stevedore Housing Scheme, North Ruimveldt, Georgetown is also charged with the murder.
According to the Prosecution, the monetary inducement was also intended for police to forgo charges against Marcus Bisram, who is wanted by the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) in connection with Narinedatt’s murder.
Bisram’s name was also mentioned in the above mentioned joint murder charge (as the number one accused) which further stated that he procured the five men to murder Narinedatt.
Lionel is the daughter of Parsram while Inderjali is Bisram’s mother.
Lionel and Inderjali are currently on trial before Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Stephen Telford is representing the prosecution.
Earlier this week, Magistrate Leron Daly admitted the caution statement given to police by Lionel to form part of the prosecution’s evidence at the conclusion of a Voir Dire (trial within a trial).
Attorney-at-Law for the woman, Sanjiv Datadin had earlier objected to the caution statement being admitted into evidence after he raised objections about a signature on the document police claimed is that of his client.
However, Magistrate Daly in her ruling said that Sergeant DaSilva testified that he was present when Lionel affixed her signature to the document and that it was upon that basis she ruled the caution statement was admissible as a document.
Under cross examination, Sergeant DaSilva told the court that he had never seen Lionel sign a document prior to November 19, 2016, and that he saw her national identification (ID) card before.
According to the police witness, it would not come as a surprise to him if the signature on the caution statement is different to the one on the ID card, since she can sign in different ways. When further questioned by Attorney Datadin, Sergeant DaSilva disclosed that handwriting samples were not taken from Lionel.
Sergeant DaSilva added that his role in the investigation was to put the allegation to Lionel and also obtain a statement from her after he was informed by Sergeant Pitama that Lionel and another attempted to pervert the course of justice.
The police witness has to return to court on May 30, for further cross examination.
In February, Sergeant Pitama took the stand and gave conflicting evidence on whether he took video footage of when the money was handed over in a bag.
Under cross examination, he stated that he did not make a video recording of Lionel handing over the bag of money to him. He was then asked by Attorney Datadin if he knew that it was a criminal offence for him to lie under oath. The police witness replied in the affirmative and revealed that he had indeed captured video footage of when the money was handed over to him, using his personal cell phone.
Sergeant Pitama further said that he recorded same for his personal business.
But Sergeant Pitama admitted to the attorney that he was not doing personal business at the time of him making the recording. The police witness then stated that he would be able to identify the recording if he sees it again.
According to Sergeant Pitama, Lionel told him, “This is the money, de four million dollars fuh (you people) loose meh daddy (Harripaul Parsram) and the rest of dem man and not fuh lock up Marcus (Bisram) when he come.”
In his evidence in chief, Sergeant Pitama never stated that he videoed the transaction on his personal cell phone. This evidence only came out when he faced intense cross examination.
According to reports, Narinedatt was killed between October 31 and November 1, 2016.
Based on reports, Bisram had a party at his home, which Narinedatt and a few others attended.
At some point Narinedatt went to the back of the yard to urinate when he was allegedly followed by Bisram who reportedly began making sexual advances towards him.
Narinedatt reportedly slapped and pushed away Bisram.
It was then the rejected man allegedly instructed his friends to kill Narinedatt.
Based on reports, several men beat Narinedatt at Bisram’s premises.
It was reported that the carpenter was then taken to a roadway and beaten until he fell into a drain. The men reportedly took the carpenter by vehicle to Number 70 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, where they dumped the body and drove over it with a car.
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