Pressmen murders Prima facie case made out against ‘Whitey’

– insufficient evidence against ‘Jimmy Dog’
Magistrate Nigel Hawke yesterday ruled that a prima facie case has been made out against one person accused of the murders of the Kaieteur News pressmen while he ordered the case discharged against another owing to insufficient evidence.

Dwight Da Silva called `Whitey’; Quincy Evans called `Jimmy Dog’; and `Nasty Man’, a juvenile, had been charged with the murders of five Kaieteur News pressmen – Chetram Persaud, Eion Wegman, Richard Stewart, Mark Maikoo and Shazeem Mohamed – allegedly committed in August 2006.

The magistrate in his ruling yesterday told Da Silva that he is committed to stand trial for the pressmen’s murders and the murder of Barbot Paul in the High Court in the next session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes scheduled for January next year.

The magistrate stated that in both Preliminary Inquiries, the prosecution had presented sufficient evidence against Da Silva to find that a prima facie case had been made. He stated that he had taken into consideration the arguments put forward by the prosecution and the defence before arriving at his decisions.

Meanwhile, the magistrate discharged the KN pressmen murder charge against Evans owing to insufficient evidence presented by the prosecution. However, Evans will remain imprisoned since he is also jointly charged with Da Silva, Terrence John, Delwayne Carrington and ‘Nasty Man’ with the murder of Wordsworth Grey of Bagotstown, East Bank Demerara in 2006.

The PI into this matter has already commenced and the next court hearing is scheduled for October 1.