Verdict looms for accused in killing of cousins
A man accused of murdering his two cousins will likely know his fate today, when a jury is expected to deliberate on the case against him.
Abdul Budhoo is on trial for murdering brothers Shaheed and Imran Bacchus. The charge against him is that on September 30, 2012, at Industrial Area, Mackenzie, Linden, he murdered the young men. He has pleaded not guilty.
The trial, which commenced on Tuesday before Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Georgetown, saw the prosecution closing its case on Thursday, after calling its 11 witnesses to the stand.
When given a chance, Budhoo opted to lead his defence in unsworn testimony from the prisoners’ dock, in which he professed his innocence.
Justice Singh has adjourned the matter to today, when he will sum up the case and hand it over to the jury for deliberation, and the possible return of a verdict.
Both the prosecution and defence presented closing addresses to the 12-member jury on Friday morning.
The prosecution’s case is that there was an old grievance among the men regarding money, which the accused had owed to Shaheed.
State Counsel Siand Dhurjon had said that on the day in question the two brothers were standing on the road awaiting transportation to get to work, when the accused passed them by on a bicycle. He said that there was a verbal exchange among them, after which Budhoo went home, and returned on foot.
Dhurjon said that upon his return, the accused continued to verbally engage the brothers and began throwing bricks at them, even as they pleaded with their cousin to desist.
According to the prosecutor, Shaheed, who observed something bulging in his cousin’s waist, challenged him to “put down wah yuh get on yuh waist, and leh we cuff it out.”
He said that it was at this point that the two men got into a scuffle, during which Budhoo whipped out a knife, with which he dealt Shaheed four stabs. Dhurjon said that Imran, who then intervened to defend his younger brother, was stabbed by the accused also.
Shaheed, 26, died of stab wounds to one of his lungs, compounded by shock and haemorrhage.
Imran, also 26, died of a stab to his heart.