Hill St murder: Father adamant that accused stabbed son
Despite murder accused, Steve Allicock’s claims of not being in the country when Wendell Tappin was murdered, the father of the deceased, Dan Tappin, who said he witnessed the killing, remained adamant that it was Steve, who stabbed his son.
The elder Tappin was at the time responding to questions under crossexamination from defence attorney Maxwell Mc Kay.
Allicock is on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member mixed jury at the High Court in Georgetown for the murder of Tappin, who he is accused of knifing to death.
The charge against him, is that on December 31, 2009, at Hill Street, Albouystown, Georgetown, he murdered Tappin, called ‘Keyco.’
He has pleaded not guilty to the capital indictment against him.
Under cross-examination, Mc Kay suggested to Tappin, who had previously testified to witnessing his son’s murder, that it could not have been his client who stabbed his son, as he was not even in Guyana at the time of the killing.
Tappin, however, remained resolute that it was in fact the accused, whom he has known for more than 20 years, that had inflicted the fatal blows on his son.
Mc Kay has argued that his client was in Suriname at the time of the killing. He said he had travelled via the “backtrack.”
The state, however, contends that Allicock fled to Suriname only after committing the offence.
Tappin on Wednesday told the court that he was on the scene when the accused stabbed his son to chest and in the region of his heart.
He had said that moments before the killing, he saw a group of persons, including the accused, and other members of the Allicock household, chasing his son along the streets.
“My son was defenceless,” the emotional Tappin had said, adding that because of the “violent reputation,” for which the Allicocks were known in the area, he did not intervene to assist his son.
The man opined that if he did, he may have been killed also.
“I watched him die that day,” he said sadly.
The case continues this morning at 9 for the final two prosecution witnesses to take the stand. Thereafter, the state is expected to close its case.
The state’s case is being presented by Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy, in association with Tamikea Clarke and Seeta Bishundial.
Allicock had eluded capture for over five years. He was apprehended in May of 2015.
Police Corporal Dhanpaul Etwaroo, had previously testified to holding a confrontation between Dan Tappin and the accused, after he was apprehended.
Asked whether he had done anything to ascertain the veracity of his Allicock’s alibi, Etwaroo told Mc Kay he did not, adding; “the backtrack don’t have any record.”
The police officer agreed with counsel that checking out the alibi would have been important. Etwaroo, however, said “I don’t know where the backtrack is.” He told the court that he has never gone to Berbice.
Steve’s father, Leonard and his uncle Randolph were also slapped with the capital charge, but were subsequently freed.
Tappin, a father of two, was 23 years old at the time of his death.