A Superintendent of Police, whom last year gave conflicting evidence in relation to the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into an attempted murder charge against Maryann Daby, has done it again. This time, it is in relation to the illegal possession of arms and ammunition charge against Daby.
Superintendent Gary McAllister, who is attached to the Brickdam Police Station, this morning went into the witness box where he gave evidence as to the role he played in investigating the matters.
During the attempted murder PI, McAllister had told the court that relative to a report of an alleged attempted murder committed on a police rank, he, along with a party of policemen went to the home of Daby, where they identified themselves as police officers.
He added that he put an allegation to the woman and she responded by saying, “Officer I fire a round from my license firearm after a DEA officer was following me.”
At no time did the witness, while giving evidence in the PI, told the court that he marked the gun in the presence of Daby.
However, this morning when he was giving evidence in the firearm-related matters, the witness told the court that when he made contact with the defendant, he marked the firearm in her presence.
This new revelation did not sit well with attorney-at-law Mark Waldron who is representing Daby.
The lawyer disagreed that the weapon was marked in his client’s presence.
This was proven to be true after the court recording reflected that the police witness did not mention that he marked the weapon in the defendant’s presence.
Upon completion of the witness giving his evidence, Prosecutor Richard Harris asked the court to tender the evidence bag as part of the prosecution case.
However, the lawyer, on examining the evidence bag which contained a gun and ammunition, observed that the bag had several staples on the seal and an extra-label hanging off one end.
This, the lawyer noted, was not there when the bag was showed during the PI.
Hence, he strongly objected to the bag being tendered, citing that it has been tampered with and that the seal is not intact.
However, Prosecutor Harris told the court that he is of the strong view that there is no tampering of the evidence bag.
After a few minutes of back and forth arguments between the prosecutor and the defence, the Magistrate, who appeared upset, turned to the prosecutor and stated, “It is extremely disappointing. I find that the prosecution is trying to lie to the court. I am upset to hear what is coming from the prosecution table. Present what you have, there is no need to manipulate the evidence.”
The prosecutor decided to call his final witness with the aim of proving that the evidence bag was not tampered with. He called Constable Kevin Thomas to give evidence in the matter.
Thomas told the court that he is stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and attached to the firearm and ammunition section.
The witness, in his testimony, told the court that in order for him to exam the contents of the evidence bag, he cut the bottom of the bag so that the seal would remain intact.
At this point, the prosecutor who looked shocked said he did not hear clearly what the witness said and the Magistrate repeated what the witness said as follows, “In order to examine the contents of the bag I cut the bottom of the bag so that the seal would remain intact.”
The Magistrate then adjourned the matter until November 15, when the prosecution is expected to lay over submission as to why the evidence bag should be submitted into evidence.
Daby, 26, of 127 D’Aguiar Park, Houston, Georgetown, was recently discharged of attempted murder of a police officer.
However, she is still on trial for having in her possession an illegal fireman with six matching rounds.
It is alleged that on May 13, 2018, at the same location, Daby had a .32 pistol in her possession when she was not the holder of a firearm licence enforced at the time.
It was further alleged that on the same day, she had six live rounds of .32 ammunition in her possession when she was not the holder of a firearm licence enforced at the time.
She denied both charges after they were read to her.
According to reports, on the day in question, Daby and her friends were at the Guyana Motor Racing & Sports Club. Constable Kissoon, who was off-duty and at the Club at the time, reportedly heard what appeared to be gunshots going off.
While checking for the source of the gunfire, he reportedly saw Daby firing rounds into the air and, as a result, he confronted her.
Daby allegedly became annoyed and pointed a firearm to his head and pulled the trigger. Fortunately, there were no more rounds in the gun.
