Kevin Ali, who is accused of the 2012 Phagwah Day murder of Abdul Ghanie was on Tuesday committed to stand trial in the High Court for the capital offence.
The ruling was handed down by Magistrate Judy Latchman, who presided over the matter at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court.
At the end of the preliminary inquiry, the magistrate informed the accused that a prima facie case had been made out against him and as such he was committed to stand trial in the High Court at the next appropriate sitting of the criminal assizes.
The allegation against Ali is that on March 8, 2012, he murdered Ghanie.
Ghanie, of Lot 367 Enterprise and Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, died at the Woodlands Hospital, where he was taken shortly after he was stabbed in the abdomen.
The incident took place a stone’s throw away from the Carmichael Street hospital.
Police had said that the murder occurred around 11:45am, when Ali, who was walking along Carmichael Street, was doused with water and abeer by children who were playing Phagwah. The suspect became annoyed and began to verbally abuse the children.
The police had said that Ghanie, who was working on a house nearby, rebuked Ali for abusing the children, “whereupon he, [Ali] pulled out a knife and stabbed Ghanie to the chest.” A post-mortem examination which was performed on the remains of Ghanie revealed that he died from shock and haemorrhage due to a stab wound.
