A man and his son who are accused of chopping another on Sheriff Street were yesterday remanded to prison when they appeared before Magistrate Hazel Octave-Hamilton at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
The allegation against Premchand and Ravindra Singh is that on January 23 at Sheriff Street, Georgetown, they unlawfully and maliciously wounded David Bacchus with intent to maim, disfigure, or cause him grievous bodily harm.
Both father and son denied the charge of felonious wounding when it was read to them.
Attorney Glenn Hanoman who represented the jointly charged duo failed in his attempt to secure his clients’ pretrial liberty.
According to the attorney, it was the virtual complainant (VC) who was the aggressor in the matter.
In relaying his version of the story to the court, Hanoman said that his clients are tenants of the VC’s family and on the day in question, the VC and members of his family had gone into his client’s apartment and begun making trouble and threatening their lives.
Hanoman said that none of these reports made by his clients were recorded by the police.
Meanwhile, the VC who was present at court had stitches across his face and showed wounds to his chest when asked by the court.
Premchand, the father, is 44-years-old and resides at 204 Lusignan, East Coast Demerara. Hanoman explained that Ravindra lives in Trinidad but resides at his father’s address whenever he is in Guyana. The lawyer asked for his clients to be admitted to reasonable bail, stating that they have no antecedents, pose no risk of flight and have been cooperating with police investigations.
The prosecution, however, successfully objected to the accused being granted their pretrial liberty after advancing that they both attempted to flee the country after the incident. Police Sergeant Lionel Harvey who is prosecuting the matter told the court that the father fled to Suriname while the son was intercepted at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport the following day just before boarding a flight to Trinidad.
According to Harvey, it was only after learning that his son had been in police custody that the older Singh returned from Suriname and he was subsequently arrested and charged as well.
The defence, however, disputed these claims made by the prosecution, stating that the specifics of the matter will be fully ventilated at the time of the trial.
Hanoman argued that Premchand never left Guyana, a fact he said that the prosecution can prove.
Meanwhile, he said that the only reason Ravindra was leaving for Trinidad was because he was told by the police that they had completed their investigations relating to him after releasing him from questioning.
After listening to the submissions of both the prosecution and defence, the magistrate informed the duo that they would be remanded to prison.
Their matter will be called again on February 3.
