State forced to close case in Sophia shopkeeper murder trial

Oct 13, 2020 News

– as two witnesses could not be reached

Kaieteur News – The State was yesterday forced to close its case in the trial of Odel Roberts, who stands indicted for the 2015 murder of Sophia shopkeeper, Shawn Anys.

Accused: Odel Roberts

Odel Roberts called ‘Gully Side’ of ‘C’ Field Sophia, Greater Georgetown is currently on trial for the murder of the shopkeeper before Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry and a mixed 12- member jury.
Anys was shot and killed during the course of a robbery on May 1, 2015 at his ‘D’ Field, Sophia residence where he owned and managed a small grocery shop. He was confronted by the bandits just before 23:00 hours on the night of the incident.
The man was at home when he heard his dogs barking and decided to venture out of the house to investigate when he was confronted by two armed men who forced him into the house and shot him while demanding money and valuables.

Murdered: Sophia shopkeeper – Shawn Anys

The gunmen made off with $40,000 in cash along with jewellery. Anys was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The trial for the murder continued yesterday. Following the cross-examination of police witness Suraj Singh, State Counsel Tiffini Lyken told the Court that the prosecution has exhausted its witnesses as two other persons who were listed to testify in the murder trial could not be reached, despite several attempts to the contact them.
Lyken nonetheless implored members of the jury not to let the accused walk free when he should be held culpable for the murder of the hardworking shopkeeper who was killed in cold blood.
However, defence attorney, Damien Da Silva urged the jury not to convict Roberts based on the weak, unreliable evidence of one witness. According to the lawyer, the only substantial evidence in the case was that of Officer Suraj Singh.
The lawyer pointed out though that Singh’s evidence could be easily questioned. “This is an officer who admitted that he did not inform the accused of his right to an attorney at the time of his arrest. His evidence could be described as weak and unreliable at best,” the lawyer told the panel in his closing presentation.
Da Silva had previously cross-examined Singh about his involvement in the murder investigation. The lawyer had asked the Officer about his initial interaction with his client.
Da Silva suggested that detective Singh had already formed an opinion about his client since when he first met him (Roberts); he was already serving time in prison for another offence.
Singh had vehemently denied the suggestion. He said that he had no preconceived notions about the accused at the time of his arrest.
The officer instead claimed that he cautioned the accused and questioned him about the incident, which led to the death of the Sophia shopkeeper. The policeman recalled too that Roberts denied any involvement in the incident.
“He said, ‘Boss, I ain’t know nothing about it’,” Singh recalled.
The policeman also told the Court that Roberts made certain admissions in relation to incident during a confrontation with a female. He however admitted that he made no audio or video record of the confrontation.
Roberts had pleaded not guilty to the charge when his case commenced at the Georgetown High Court earlier this week in a virtual setting. The accused joined the proceedings from the Georgetown Prison via zoom.
Since then, state prosecutors, Tiffini Lyken and Nafeeza Baig called several witnesses including the sons of the victim – who were reportedly at home when the shooting occurred. Shakeem Anys, who was 13 years old at the time of the incident, recalled that his father heard the dogs barking and went to check to see who was at the gate.
The witness claimed that moments later, two armed men confronted his dad. He said one man was fully masked and the other was not wearing anything to cover his face. According to the witness, the gunmen appeared to be engaged in a confrontation with his father shortly before shots were heard.
The witness was later confronted with questions from defence attorney Da Silva. Da Silva questioned the witness about what he saw on the night of the shooting. The lawyer enquired from the witness whether he ever attended a police identification parade and pointed out the accused among the suspect placed on the parade. Anys, in response, told the court that he did attend the parade but that he never identified the accused as one of the shooters.
Mark Anys, the victim’s other son also told the Court that he was at the family’s Sophia resident when he heard the gunshots. He said that he did not see what took place but found out shortly after it happened that his father was the victim of an armed robbery.