The commencement of the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the attempted murder of Police Constable Rajindra Singh and Police Detective Damintra Intrapaul was yesterday postponed to February 3.
Acting Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who is presiding over the matter, granted the adjournment after Prosecutor Stephen Telford successfully applied to have the accused—Colin Jones, Randy Mars, Jafar Simpson and Basil Morgan—charged jointly. Previously, Morgan was charged separately, while Jones, Mars and Simpson were on a joint charge.
As a result, the attempted murder charge, to which the men were not required to plead, was read to the quartet again. The charge states that on November 4, 2009, at Georgetown, they discharged loaded firearms at Singh and Intrapaul, with intent to commit murder on them.
Also at yesterday’s hearing, defence counsel George Thomas made submissions to the Magistrate, noting that the defence is entitled to every piece of evidence that the prosecution has so that it [the defence] can properly prepare for the PI. After hearing the case, the magistrate adjourned the matter to for the commencement of the PI and for the prosecution to respond to Thomas’ submissions.
On December 2, Jones has also been charged with murdering two of his former gang members and another man and was jailed for eight years after he pleaded guilty to a series of other charges, including cultivation of ganja and possession of an unlicensed weapon and ammunition.
Jones, Mars and Simpson are also accused of setting fire to the Supreme Court of building.
