-after witnesses fails to show
Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan yesterday granted what she said was the last adjournment to the police in the preliminary inquiry into the charge against the accused in the murder of Bourda Market cheese vendor Troy Ramalho.
The adjournment was granted after the prosecution was unable to locate two of its final witnesses even though arrest warrants were issued for them.
Due to the absence of two witnesses, Paul Broomes and Lester Pickering, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, Prosecutor Neville Jeffers yesterday asked for an adjournment.
The Chief Magistrate adjourned the proceedings until March 25th, 2019. She also told the prosecutor that the police have to close their case at some point and that the latest adjournment would be the last as she believes she had given them sufficient time to get their case and witnesses in order.
Prosecutor Jeffers then asked for the arrest warrants previously issued for Broomes and Pickering to stay in effect until the next hearing, to which the Chief Magistrate agreed.
Both the prosecution and one of the accused, George Paton, are expected to close their cases on March 25th, at 1 pm, after which the Chief Magistrate will make her ruling on a caution statement taken from Paton.
Paton, Akeem Morris and Roy Sandford are jointly charged with the murder of Ramalho.
The charge alleges that on August 15th, at Robb Street, Bourda, in the course or furtherance of a robbery, they murdered Ramalho.
Another man, Nya John, was also charged for the same murder in December, 2018.
It was reported that, Ramalho, 45, was shot once in the chest, after resisting three men who attempted to rob him of his jewellery. They demanded his jewellery, while one shot him.