Sno-cone vendor freed of murder charge

A sno-cone vendor accused of murder walked out of court a free man after Magistrate Krishndat Persaud upheld no-case submissions by attorney-at-law, Kim Kyte-John at the New Amsterdam (NA) court recently. Zenton Angus, 46, of Vryheid, West Canje reportedly murdered Ganesh Ramcharran, 44, on December 23, 2006, at Angoy’s Avenue, NA. The man was discharged at the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry (PI) on December 29 last. Reports are that Ramcharran had borrowed a bicycle from Angus on the evening of December 22, 2006 and did not return it. Around 10 am the following day when Angus caught up with the deceased he became angry, resulting in a scuffle between the two.

Ganesh Ramcharran
Ganesh Ramcharran

It was alleged that after being lashed about the body with a piece of wood, Ramcharran ran a short distance and fell into a drain with water. He was rescued and taken to the NA Hospital where he subsequently died. A post-mortem examination proved that he died from drowning and asphyxiation.

Kyte-John argued that the state’s evidence was weak. She said too that there is no circumstantial evidence that the deceased met his death at the hand of the accused.

As such, she submitted that her client should not be called upon to lead a defence and asked that he be discharged.

After listening to the submissions the magistrate ruled in favour of the accused. The matter was first called on the April 11, 2007 and the PI commenced on the 11th June, 2007.