Antonio Balrup and Satrohan Madray, the two men accused of killing Corriverton butcher Saeed Hamid were slapped with a murder charge on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, there was a delay in the reading of the charges after the Police Officer who had to swear to the evidence was absent. Hours later, when the matter was called for the second time, it was observed that it was filed for the New Amsterdam Magistrate’s Court and not the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court.
In light of this, Magistrate Rondell Weaver requested that the jacket be filed properly. That had to be done at Fort Wellington.
When that was corrected and returned to the court on Tuesday, the Magistrate said she had no jurisdiction to hear the charge as prepared. The prosecution sought advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and then returned to court with only two of the accused.
Magistrate Weaver then asked for the third accused, since there were three names on the file jacket.
However, on Wednesday, the Police finally got their administrative matters sorted out and the charges were read to Balrup and Madray by Magistrate Weaver at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court.
The men were represented by Attorney-at-Law Marceline Bacchus. They were remanded to prison and the case was scheduled to continue on July 17, 2018.
Guyana Times International was told that the third person, Asif Hamid, the dead man’s son, would be charged at a later date as an accessory to the crime.
Saeed Hamid was supposed to testify against his son in connection with the murder of Henry Lallman, whose body was found in a shallow grave under a mango tree in Hamid’s yard.
Lallman had disappeared and during investigations, Police stumbled upon the man’s partially decomposed body after they were informed that he went to Hamid’s home and never returned.
It is believed that Hamid while in prison met Madray and they plotted to prevent the now dead businessman from giving evidence against the former.
On April 16, 2018, the senior Hamid left his Corriverton home and never returned.
