Four men to stand trial for murder of Berbice teen Haresh Singh

The four men charged with the September 2020 murder of Berbice teen Haresh Singh have been committed to stand trial at the High Court in Berbice.

Philip Anderson c/d “Ratman”, 31, of 25 # 3 Village, West Coast Berbice (WCB); Joel Gittins called “Bolo”, 29, of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD); 29-year-old Gladston Henry called “Gladwin Henry” and “Soldier Man” of # 3 Village, WCB and Charles Scott called “Bucko”, 23, of 29 Jarvis Street Rosignol, Berbice, were committed to stand trial for the capital offence on Tuesday.

This was after Magistrate Peter Hugh who presides at the Blairmont Magistrate’s Court, at the end of a Preliminary Inquiry (PI), ruled that the prosecution was able to establish a prima facie case against the quartet.

Accordingly, he committed them to stand trial at the next practicable sitting of the Berbice Criminal Assizes.

Singh, 17, also known as “Raj”, of 8 Number 3 Village, WCB was found with head injuries and chop wounds along the No. 2 Village Backdam on September 9, 2020.

He had left home on his motorcycle to tend to his farm in the backdam of No. 3 Village. However, sometime later, his relatives saw smoke coming from the Backdam and left to investigate. To their dismay, they discovered the teenager lying motionless, bleeding from his nose. His motorcycle had also been burnt.

Singh’s cause of death was given as brain haemorrhaging and blunt trauma to the head, compounded by compression injuries to his neck. He was murdered days after WCB teenage cousins Joel and Isaiah Henry were found brutally murdered.

The cousins were found murdered in September 2020, one day after they went to pick coconuts in the backdam. Their bodies were severely mutilated and an x was found engraved on their foreheads.

According to reports, Singh’s murder was a retaliation killing as several of his relatives had been initially held for the murder of the cousins.

In March of this year, Vinod Gopaul, 34, called “Magga” of Yakusari, Black Bush Polder, Corentyne Berbice, and Anil Sancharra, 33, called “Dan Pole” of D’ Edward Village, WCB, were committed to stand trial for the cousins’ murder.

Meanwhile, Patricia Henry, mother of Isaiah Henry and Gladston Henry, and aunt of Joel Henry, collapsed and died suddenly at her home earlier this month.