Investigators called by the state to testify in the Vivekanand Nandalall murder trial were yesterday unable to provide records of arrest and the photographs from the scene where the slain taxi-driver’s human skeletal remains were discovered.
The trial continued with the cross-examination of Corporal Ellory Mason by lead defence counsel Clarissa Riehl. The attorney had questioned Mason on Monday about the records of arrest for the accused, Shawn Richardson. Three more state witnesses testified yesterday.
Station Sergeant Godfrey Taitt subsequently testified that he made checks for the records in question but could not find any. He told the court that from November 2004, when Richardson was arrested, to some time in 2006, the Vigilance Police Station was undergoing renovations. As a result, records had been relocated.
The next state witness was Assistant Superintendent of Police Michael Kingston, the officer-in-charge of crime at Police ‘C’ Division Headquarters, at Cove and John. Kingston testified that on March 12, 2004, he received information that human skeletal remains were found at an East Coast Demerara (ECD) location. Kingston said he subsequently went to cane field number 5E, located at the back of the Bachelor’s Adventure Squatting Area, ECD, where he saw what appeared to be a human skeleton lying in an east to west position in a burnt out cane field.
The man said that he examined the skeleton and observed what appeared to be a bullet hole on the left side of the skull just above the ear. Kingston further testified that he took the skeleton to the Lyken’s Funeral Parlour to await an examination.
He said on March 19, 2004, he was present at the Georgetown Public Hospital when government pathologist Nehaul Singh examined the skeletal remains. The pathologist, he said, extracted a warhead from the skull of the skeleton and gave it to him. Kingston said he packaged the warhead according to police procedures and lodged it with Taitt at the Vigilance Police Station for safe keeping.
Later the same day, Kingston testified, he went to Ramdeo Nandalall, father of the deceased, and uplifted an orange toothbrush which Vivekanand had used prior to his disappearance. The toothbrush, according to Kingston, was initialed by both him and Ramdeo.
Kingston said on March 22, 2004 he took the warhead, which had been recovered from the skull, to the police ballistic specialist ASP Eon Jackson for examination. On March 29, 2004, he said, he returned to the pathologist and uplifted bone and hair samples, which were taken from the skeletal remains. The samples were packaged and then he took those packages to the police force’s forensic lab and handed them over the officer-in-charge of the facility, ASP Steven Greaves.
Kingston further testified that on April 5, 2004, he took the toothbrush and the packages with the bone and hair samples to the Multitech Lab at New Market Street, Georgetown and handed them over to an employee there for onward transmission to Canada for DNA testing. On April 6, 2004, he collected the ballistic certificate from Jackson.
On July 5, 2004, Kingston said, he was present at the Enterprise Cemetery where the skeletal remains were buried. Under cross-examination by the Riehl, he told the court that the remains were identified by DNA testing and that the documents with the test results were in his possession.
Corporal Osmond Semple was the third witness to testify during yesterday’s proceedings. During 2004, he was stationed at Cove and John. Semple told the court that on March 12, 2004, he went with Kingston to the scene where the skeletal remains were discovered. He said that he photographed the area, developed the film and handed over the photographs to Taitt.
During the preliminary inquiry (PI) in October 2006, Semple further testified, he searched at the station for the photographs but could not find them. He told the court that from the time the photos were taken to when they were requested in 2006, the station was being renovated and records had been relocated. Semple testified that he did not have any pictures to tender at the Vigilance Magistrates’ Court during the PI.
Semple, responding to questions asked by Riehl, said that he did not play any other role in the investigation and did not know whose bones he was photographing. He was also asked by the jury whether it was his right to know whose bones he was photographing. Semple said it was not.
It is alleged that between October 16, 2003 and March 13, 2004, Richardson murdered Nandalall, at Enterprise, ECD. Richardson, of Bachelor’s Adventure, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was charged with the murder in November 2004.
