Five men found guilty of 2016 murder of Berbice carpenter

The trial of five men over the 2016 murder of a Berbice carpenter ended on Friday with all of them being found guilty by the jury of the capital offence.

Convicted were: Orlando Dickie, Radesh Motie, Diodath Datt, Harri Paul Parsram, and Niran Yacoob. They were on trial for the crime before Berbice High Court Judge Navindra Singh.

Sentencing for the quintet has been deferred to December 28.

Between October 31 and November 1, 2016, in the county of Berbice, they murdered Faiyaz Narinedatt, a 26-year-old father of two and carpenter.

At the start of their trial, the men who were represented by counsel, had pleaded not guilty to the joint indictment.

It was reported that on the night of October 31, 2016, Narinedatt attended a party hosted by US-based Guyanese businessman Marcus Bisram at his home.

It is alleged that Bisram made sexual advances to Narinedatt who rejected him by slapping him. According to reports, Bisram allegedly ordered the five men to kill Narinedatt.

Narinedatt was reportedly beaten to death a short distance away from Bisram’s home. His body was then dumped on the Number 70 Village, Corentyne, Berbice roadway.

His killers then drove over his body to make it appear like a vehicular accident.

Bisram, who was initially charged with Narinedatt’s murder, was freed in March of this year following a ruling by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

A Magistrate had discharged him twice at the end of two separate Preliminary Inquiries (PI), ruling that there was not sufficient evidence to commit him to stand trial for the capital offence.

But the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) ordered the Magistrate to commit him to face a Judge and jury.

The Magistrate complied with the DPP’s directive. Bisram, through his lawyers, then challenged the DPP’s committal order which was subsequently quashed by a High Court Judge.

The DPP then challenged the High Court Judge’s decision at the Court of Appeal of Guyana which reinstated the DPP’s order and ordered that Bisram be arrested and tried for the crime.

Bisram then appealed that court’s ruling to the CCJ, which, pending its decision, had suspended the Court of Appeal’s ruling and ordered the DPP not to take steps to arrest Bisram.

In the end, the CCJ ruled that unless the DPP can present “fresh evidence” against Bisram, he cannot be arrested and prosecuted for the 2016 murder of the carpenter.