Tony Marks, the 42-year-old man accused of murdering a nine-year-old girl at Parika, East Bank Essequibo back in 2007 was freed after the case against him was discharged at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

Basmattie Seecharran

Marks, called ‘Nutman’ a Blue Berry Hill, Linden resident was charged with murdering Basmattie Seecharran called Indy. Her body was discovered on a Parika beach on January 16, 2007.

According to reports the girl was last seen by her mother on January 15 that year and was discovered the next day among a pile of logs on the beach. She was lying face down and one side of her face was swollen while blood oozed out of her nose and ear. She was clothed only in pants. A post-mortem examination revealed that she died from manual strangulation compounded with blunt trauma to the head. She was also sexually assaulted.

The case was heard before Magistrate Fazil Azeez at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate’s Court. The magistrate said that a prima facie case was not made out against Marks and discharged the case. He said that there was no evidence that linked Marks to the death of Seecharran.