The family of murdered Berbice carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt has expressed confidence in the State’s ability to prosecute the case against the accused, Marcus Bisram.
“…we the family of Faiyaz would like to express full support and confidence with the office of Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and assigned State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings,” the family said in a statement.
“Prosecutor Goodings has been working diligently and have displayed the code of professionalism in the courtroom conducting herself with dignity, civility, courtesy and a sense of fair play to bring justice for Faiyaz and our family.”
The family said it is important for members of the Ministry of Public Security to be knowledgeable about these types of court matters and to work closely with DPP before releasing embarrassing statements to the press.
“This sends the wrong messages to families like ours and to the public implying that the Prosecutor Ms. Goodings and DPP are not doing their job.
“It is this type of distrustful behaviour that instills corruption in the judicial system that disallows families to receive justice when sitting in a courtroom knowing we cannot bring our Faiyaz back,” the family stated.
The family emphasized that they are confident that the office of DPP will show that justice can prevail in this matter and that Faiyaz’s case will not become another statistic of a judicial failure.
Public Security Minister Khemraj Ramjattan Wednesday said it was “embarrassing” that the State is not ready to prosecute murder accused Marcus Bisram, despite fighting for his extradition from the United States for two years.
Bisram is accused of orchestrating the brutal murder of 26-year-old Narinedatt between October 31 and November 1, 2016.
Minister Ramjattan said he is unaware of the issues being faced by the court to successfully prosecute the case but noted: “that is very embarrassing if that is what the behaviour is.”
Bisram was charged on November 21 at the Whim’s Magistrate’s Court with the murder of Narinedatt.
When the matter was recalled on December 09, State Prosecutor Stacy Goodings did not show up to disclose the evidence to the defence and efforts made by the Police Prosecutor to contact her in Georgetown proved futile.
This forced the Magistrate to postpone the hearing to December 16 for disclosure of all evidence to defence at the Springlands Magistrate’s Court.
An initial request by the State to adjourn the case to January 2020 was denied by Magistrate Alex Moore.
The State’s request for the case to proceed via a Preliminary Inquiry (PI) was also denied by the Magistrate who ruled in the favour of the defence for a paper committal instead.
The PI would have allowed the State to call witnesses to give testimony.
A scheduled visit to the scene of the murder was also postponed on Monday last after Magistrate Moore reported sick.
The series of events has since caused the defence to suspect that the State is deliberately delaying the case while Bisram remains incarcerated.
The Police’s claim is that at the party on the night of October 31, Bisram made sexual advances against Narinedatt, including touching his penis, and when Narinedatt refused, by slapping him, he told others to kill the carpenter.
