The prosecution today presented its closing arguments in the trial of Curt Thomas, who is accused of the April 30, 2016 murder of fuel dealer Seeram Singh.
Thomas is on trial for the offence before Justice Navindra Singh in the High Court of Demerara.
State Prosecutor Tuanna Hardy and Tyra Bakker, who are seeking to convict Thomas, also known as “Yankee,” in closing arguments urged the jury to find Thomas guilty of the crime as the prosecution was able to prove that he committed the offence.
She maintained that it was Thomas who shot and killed Singh. Consequently, she pointed to the prosecution witnesses, which included Rajmohan Autar and Thomas’ girlfriend’s mother.
The Prosecutor contended that Autar was able to positively identify Thomas during the identification parade. In fact, she disclosed that the testimony of the Government Analyst and expert in trace evidence, Senior Superintendent Phillip Azore revealed that the clothing submitted for testing said to be worn by the accused on the night of the shooting tested positive for gunpowder residue.
According to Hardy, attempts were made by Thomas’ lawyer, Lyndon Amsterdam, to discredit the prosecution’s witnesses but they did not succeed due to the fact that the witnesses’ stories are “believable.”
In scrutinizing Thomas’ unsworn testimony in his defence, Hardy pointed out that he brought no witnesses to discredit the prosecution’s case.
During his virtual testimony, Thomas testified that he was no where at or near the crime scene, and neither did he know Singh. He alleged that Officer Bowan, one of the lead detectives in the case, was trying to frame him for the murder.
He argued that his girlfriend and Officer Bowman had previously shared a relationship. However, his girlfriend’s mother, Dorothy Pratt, during the cross-examination by Prosecutor Hardy, was unable to provide an account for her son-in-law’s whereabouts around 9:00 pm.
Justice Singh will sum up the evidence tomorrow morning before sending the jury’s case for deliberation on a verdict. The summation is expected to last for one and a half hours.
According to Thomas’s indictment, on the day in question, he murdered Singh during the course/furtherance of a robbery. The Prosecutors are contending that Thomas killed Singh while robbing him of jewellery.
Based on reports, Singh, 52, of Lot 40 Parika Outfall, was stabbed to his abdomen and shot twice – to his head and hip. The bullet to his head was at close range and may have been the fatal shot.
At the time, media reports stated that Singh was talking to someone on his mobile phone when he was attacked and stabbed. In an attempt to raise an alarm, the injured man ran towards a shop, but the gunman gave chase and caught up with him.
A scuffle ensued, and it was then the suspect discharged two rounds at Singh. Reports were as the businessman fell, the gunman relieved him of two gold chains and escaped. Singh was rushed to the Leonora Cottage Hospital, West Coast Demerara (WCD), where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
