Magistrate reopens Bisram’s case: says directive to commit accuse is not DPP’s call

Today Magistrate Renita Singh reopened the murder case against Marcus Bisram on the directions of the Director of Public Prosecution. She however cautioned that the directive of the DPP to commit the accused is not the call the DPP can make and that such a decision remains the authority of the court.

The Magistrate made it clear that she will not move away from her orginal ruling where she stated that there was insufficient evidence to commit the accused to stand trial in a high court.

The magistrate has however cautioned that the while she is obligated to comply with the ruling of the DPP to re-open the case, she made it clear that the issue of committing Marcus Bisram to stand trial for the offence is a decision, not for the DPP to make but for the court to make based on the evidence before the court.

The magistrate was instructed by way of letters from the DPP on Monday to reopen the case against Marcus Bisram and with a view of committing him to stand trial on the High Court.

Those instructions came hours after Bisram’s murder case was discharged by the magistrate due to a lack of evidence in the prosecution’s submissions throughout the court proceedings which stated in November.

The defense argued that the procedures which lead to the re-arrest of Marcus Bisram were not followed and as such the arrest was unlawful as the DPP 1-has to first review the deposition in the matter before ordering a re-opening of the case and 2- order the re- arrest of Bisram, something the DPP has no powers to order and which can only be done by way of an arrest warrant given the circumstances, I.e the matter being discharged.

State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings told the court that the defence lawyers were trying to pervert the course of justice as the DPP acted lawfully by instructing the magistrate to reopen the case and to also instruct the police to re-arrest Marcus Bisram on Monday.

The defence asked the police prosecutor to explain what the reason for Bisram’s re-arrest was, none of the police in the court could tell the magistrate why Marcus Bisram was in police custody.

The court was told by the defense that in order for Bisram to be re-arrested and the matter reopen, the court has to be the one issuing an arrest warrant and that was not done.

The arrest warrant is issued after the DPP would have reviewed the depositions but based on the prosecution’s admission in court, at the time the arrest was ordered, the DPP has not been in possession of the deposition. Infact the deposition was still in the custody of the court.

Defense lawyers are arguing that Bisram has been in custody from Monday to date, unlawfully and the High Court will be approached on this matter.

They are also seeking to have an order disregarding the DPP’s instructions to the Magistrate which did not follow procedures.

Marcus Bisram was extradited to Guyana from the United States in 2019 to answer to murder charges in relation to a carpenter back in 2016.