A witness yesterday maintained that Mark “Jesse” Assing was indeed the man who fired the shot that killed his neighbour after a row over a fowl cock escalated.
Assing was committed to stand trial in the High Court for the murder of Abiola Eadie, whom he allegedly shot during an argument in 2012.
When his trial continued yesterday before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-person jury, several more witnesses testified. Among yesterday’s witnesses were government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh, while Iesha George, Eadie’s neighbour and cousin, was cross-examined.
When she took the stand on Wednesday, George told the court that she had been a witness to the shooting. According to George, she had seen when Assing and Eadie became embroiled in an argument and she had attempted to intervene. The woman maintained that Assing had been the shooter.
Yesterday, under cross-examination by Assing’s lawyer Peter Hugh, George once again said that Assing had been the killer. When questioned by Hugh about a man simply referred to as “Buck Man” and whether the man had been seen before and after the shooting, George denied that “Buck Man” had been around. The man is reportedly the brother of the deceased woman.
Hugh further asked George about a dozen more questions on “Buck Man” and the woman repeatedly denied that “Buck Man” was present during the shooting. Finally, Hugh suggested to George, “You and your relatives concocted a story to protect the real shooter.”
George immediately denied the suggestion and said, “Nobody can’t put nothing in my head; I saw that man murder my cousin, with my own eyes.” Hugh then began, “The person who did it is Abiola’s own brother…” before he was cut off by an angry George.
“The man that killed my cousin is standing right there,” George said as she pointed an accusatory finger at Assing, who sat in the prisoners’ dock. She went on in a broken voice, “I see it; God as my witness.” Hugh soon ended his examination of the witness and she left, clutching a damp tissue tightly in her hand. State prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin declined to reexamine George.
Other witnesses who took the stand yesterday were a former neighbour of Eadie’s and a police constable who had been working on the investigation of the woman’s death.
The former neighbour, Ms. Welch, stated that she had witnessed when individuals including Assing, Eadie and Assing’s wife, were embroiled in an argument. Welch added that she had come out after she had heard raised voices. She added that Eadie’s granddaughter, who had been in the woman’s arms during the argument, began to cry. Eadie, Welch said, put the child down and she in turn picked up the child to take her inside. Welch said she had walked about 25 feet when she heard “a loud Pow!” She immediately rushed out back and saw Eadie lying on the ground as her son clutched her. Assing and his wife were nowhere to be seen, Welch said. She further said that she had not seen the man again until he was charged with Eadie’s murder.
In 2012, eyewitnesses had told Stabroek News that the shooting stemmed from an argument over a game bird that Martin Barker, Eadie’s son, was holding as he was returning home. Eadie was initially admitted to a hospital in a critical condition and subsequently succumbed to her injuries.
