NEWS FLASH: Judge sets Bisram free; upholds magistrate ruling of insufficient evidence

FREED FOR A SECOND TIME: Marcus Bisram 

Murder Accused Marcus Bisram walked out the Camp Street Jail a free man moments ago on the order of a Supreme Court Judge who ruled that there was insufficient evidence for the state to continue the charge and continue holding him for the offense of murder.

The ruling was passed on Monday and the requisite orders signed today, effecting the release of Bisram who was first freed back in March when Berbice Magistrate Renita Singh ruled that there was insufficient evidence to commit Bisram to stand trial in the High Court.

Marcus Bisram was extricated to Guyana last year after the state fought tooth and nail to have him brought here to face a murder charge for the killing of carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt back in 2016.

After Bisram was freed in March, the Director of Public Prosecution through State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings caused Bisram to be rearrested just hours after he was set free by the Magistrate. The DPP then ordered the magistrate to commit Bisram to stand trial in the High Court.

The Magistrate who is mandated to follow the instructions of the DPP under the required section of the law committed Bisram to stand trial but in her ruling had again reminded the court that she stood by her ruling that there was insufficient evidence for him to be committed.

High Court Judge Ramlall in her deliberations on Monday pointed out that the procedures employed by the Director of Public Prosecution to invoke section 72 of the constitution to have Marcus Bisram rearrested were woefully irregular.

The ruling of the High Court also found that the state did not prove in its submissions, evidence to link Marcus Bisram to the crime, an argument that his defense team has been arguing from the beginning of the case in the lower court.

After being freed in March, Bisram promised to sue the state and accused the Director of Public Prosecution of religious prosecution.

Marcus Bisram’s case had all the hallmarks of a circus with politicians publicly commenting on the ongoing proceedings, relatives of the accused requesting that a magistrate be removed from hearing the matter, the DPP accusing a magistrate of having a personal interest in the case and the lists go on.