Bibi Nazeela Habiboodean, the woman who reportedly paid to have her elderly father killed in 2008, and the man who was paid to carry out the heinous act, on Wednesday both pleaded not guilty to the crime.
Habiboodean and Linden Lewis appeared before Justice Sandil Kissoon at the Georgetown High Court and denied that on February 15, 2008 they murdered 76-year-old Habiboodean.
A jury was empaneled to hear the case, which commenced on Wednesday morning. The duo is represented by attorneys Latchmie Rahamat and Roger Yearwood. Evidence is led by Senior State Counsel Lisa Cave.
It is alleged that Lewis, known as ‘Bullet’, was the hit-man who was hired by Bibi to kill her father on February 15, 2008. Habiboodean was the owner of a gas station at Ruby, East Bank Essequibo; he died at a hospital after being badly beaten in his home.
His daughter turned herself in at the Leonora Police Station, West Coast Demerara, in 2016 and had implicated other persons in the murder.
Lewis was arrested in connection with the murder that occurred at Good Hope, East Bank Essequibo, and reportedly confessed to the brutal murder of the businessman.
In 2008, shortly after the incident, police had arrested Bibi and Terry Lewton, a former employee of the late Habiboodean.
They were charged for the businessman’s murder, but were freed by a Magistrate because of insufficient evidence regarding their implication.
