Murder accused Yogeshwar Shivdyal was yesterday freed after he was found not guilty of killing Anil Persaud.
Shivdyal, 21, was freed in the High Court by a 12-member jury that spent less than two hours deliberating before returning with the unanimous verdict of not guilty. He was on trial for fatally stabbing Persaud, of Bella Dam, Pouderoyen, West Bank Demerara, at a wedding house at Independence Street, La Grange, on February 28, 2009. Persaud was hospitalised for his injuries but died some 12 hours later, on March 1, at the Georgetown Hospital.
The matter was being tried before Justice Roxane George, who summed up the evidence in the case before handing it over to the jury for deliberation. The jury was then given a chance to decide whether the prosecution has proved their case against the accused based on the evidence.
During the trial, prosecutors Rhondel Weever and Natasha Backer had presented Persaud’s brother, Arvin Persaud, as a witness and he related to the court that he saw the accused stabbing his brother.
Persaud had told the court that he was at the wedding house with his brother, who told him he was not drinking because he had to act as father of the bride the next day. He said that he and his brother were sitting under the house when a workman, named “Bobby,” began to dance and Shivdyal started to dance as well.
The witness had also stated that Shivdyal started to “wine up” on Bobby, who subsequently went and told Anil about what Shivdyal was doing.
Anil then got up from where he was sitting and touched Shivdyal on his shoulder and tried to speak to him but the music was too loud.
The man said that his brother then went back to his seat and later got up and walked to a neighbour’s yard at the back of the wedding house.
As he did so, Shivdyal followed him and as he turned around Shivdyal choked him with his hand. Persaud told the court “he tek out a knife from his pants waist and juk Anil unda his armpit two time.”
Shivdyal’s statement to the police in which he stated that he was attacked by some boys at the wedding house and he defended himself by pulling out the knife he had in his pocket and “fire juk to de boys,” was also admitted as evidence.
He was also quoted as telling police that he felt as though the knife had pierced the boys but he ran outside of the yard after the attack.
