Witness in murder trial remanded on perjury charge
Dameon Ramgulam, who admitted that he lied under oath while serving as a state witness in a recent murder trial, is now a remanded prisoner after being charged yesterday with perjury.
Ramgulam, 23, of Sara Johanna, East Bank Demerara, was read a charge which stated that on January 24th, 2017, at Georgetown, he committed willful and corrupt perjury in order to procure the conviction of Antonio Jaisingh for the offence of murder.
Ramgulam pleaded not guilty to the charge, which was read to him by Magistrate Leron Daly in a Georgetown court.
According to the police’s case, Ramgulam, who was called to testify on behalf of the prosecution in a murder case against Jaisingh in the High Court, admitted that the testimony he had given at the Preliminary Inquiry into the charge was fabricated. According to him, he had been untruthful about his account of the fatal altercation because he was beaten by the police. Ramgulam had told the court that he was forced by the prosecution and the police to say what was in a statement.
Before recanting his statement, Ramgulam had told the court that he had seen Jaisingh push the deceased, Randy Joseph, who subsequently fell and was bleeding.
Police prosecutor Bharat Mangru objected to the accused being granted his release on bail by the court, while noting that the accused was placed on station bail during the investigation and he failed to report to the police station in keeping with a condition of his release. The prosecutor told the court that the police eventually launched a search for Ramgulam, who later surrendered in the company of his lawyer. As a result, Mangru told the court that he considers the accused a flight risk.
After listening to submissions by the prosecutor, Magistrate Daly refused bail for Ramgulam and he was remanded to prison until his next hearing, which was scheduled for March 24th.
Jaisingh, in January of this year, walked out the High Court a free man after a jury found him not guilty of the 2010 fatal stabbing of Joseph at Sarah Johanna.