A 29-year-old prisoner accused of murdering another inmate was yesterday remanded to prison when he appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
The allegation is that on August 20 at the Camp Street Prison, Teddy Phillips of 48 Belmont, Mahaica murdered Harrichand Beharry.
The accused was not required to plead to the indictable charge of murder when it was read to him by the acting chief magistrate.
When given a chance to respond, the defendant in tears told the court that he had nothing to do with the incident nor did he have any knowledge of it.
“Meh worship, me ent know nothing bout no murder neither me ent do it,” Phillips said.
The prosecution told the court, however, that on the day in question the accused, who had been imprisoned on a two-month sentence for assault, had an argument with the deceased. The argument, the prosecution said, escalated and a fight ensued between the two, and Beharry was stabbed by Phillips.
The unrepresented Phillips was later remanded to prison. He was ordered to return to court on December 12.
According to initial reports reaching Stabroek News, Beharry, a 27-year-old labourer of Hand-en-Veldt, Mahaica was stabbed to death by inmates of the Georgetown Prison. Beharry lost his life one day after he was placed on remand for a larceny charge when he appeared at the Mahaica Magistrate’s Court.
The man was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he was pronounced dead that day. Relatives told this newspaper that someone had stolen some spare parts from Chris Auto Sales where Beharry had been employed and gave him to sell.
A police press release said that Beharry was found dead in his cell. It added that “investigations have so far revealed that about 21:00hrs he was behaving abnormally in his cell located in the social block, when he was attacked by two other inmates and sustained injuries.”
