Longest court day for Bisram since extradition; prosecution wanted previous court rulings disregarded

Marcus Bisram arrives at the Whim Magistrate’s Court on Monday

Marcus Bisram who is accused of ordering the killing of carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt in 2016, had his longest court date today Monday at the Whim Magistrate’s Court before her worship Renita Singh after suffering several delays.

The day’s proceedings got underway to a late start as the defense and prosecution were present in court since morning but Bisram only arrived at the court after lunch, something that had the defense accusing the state of still attempting to delay the proceedings of of the matter.

The prosecution denied the argument while noting that it was not her responsibility to ensure Bisram’s transport from Georgetown to Berbice.

Nevertheless, the matter was stood down until after lunch but not before the magistrate cautioned that she will not be allowing this sort of development again. She later quizzed the police on the reason for the delay and admonished them that her court starts at 9:am and that on the next court day which January 27, Marcus Bisram ought to be there for that time.

In the afternoon session when Bisram arrived, the prosecution and defense asked the court to allow an in-camera session which saw the courtroom being cleared of journalists and other members of the public. This allowed the magistrate to be brief on the developments of the case and what has been happening in the past when the matter was called.

When the public was allowed to re-enter the courtroom, the prosecution sought to have the magistrate overturn the rulings of Senior Magistrate Alex Moore who was ordered to recuse himself from the case.

The defense argued against the submissions of the prosecution stating that the ruling of the previous magistrate and all others in the matter, stands as there was no move to the high court to have those decisions overturned.

The Defense also indicated that they are still willing to cross examine one key witness, two the most, while the prosecution said they wanted to call eighteen of their thirty two witnesses.

The courtroom was today filled with relatives of the accused and deceased.