One freed; retrial for second man in 2013 Mash Day murder of businessman

One of the men accused of the brutal murder of Enterprise businessman, Kumar Mohabir, was on Monday acquitted of the charge while his co-accused will have to face a new trial.

Randy Isaacs was on trial with co-accused Devon Thomas before Judge Sandil Kissoon and a jury at the Demerara High Court.

The jury, after deliberating for two hours on Monday, returned with a not guilty verdict in favour of Isaacs. However, the jury returned a hung verdict for Thomas and he will have to be retried for the capital offence.

The state was represented by Prosecutor, Lisa Cave, while the duo was represented by Attorney-at-Law, Nigel Hughes.

On February 23, 2013, Mohabir, 25, called ‘Duksy’ and ‘Fire Link’ was brutally stabbed by a drunken mob on Vlissengen Road, Georgetown, during the Mashramani celebrations.

He was attacked after he went to the location to collect a tent he rented from his neighbours for the Mashramani Day celebrations; he was stabbed by a group of intoxicated persons, armed with broken bottles.

His brother, Navindra Mohabir, was also attacked when he tried to intervene. Kumar Mohabir died while receiving treatment at the Woodlands Hospital.

Police investigations led to the two accused being arrested and charged with murder.

In 2015, the men were sentenced to 75 years imprisonment each by High Court Judge, Navindra Singh, with the possibility of parole after serving at least 40 years.

Dissatisfied with the ruling of the High Court, the duo had mounted an appeal against their conviction and sentence, claiming several errors in law were made by the trial judge.

The appeal court had set aside the men’s conviction and sentence and ordered a retrial.