Lawyer denies phone call to CJ

AN ATTORNEY representing Prof Vijay Naraynsingh in the preliminary inquiry into the murder of his former wife, Dr Chandra Naraynsingh yesterday told Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington that he never spoke to Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma about  the case. Attorney Ravi Rajcoomar disputed claims in a newspaper article  published yesterday that he spoke via telephone with CJ Sharma before the murder inquiry began at the San Fernando First Magistrates’ Court on December 17. At the start of hearing yesterday around 1.15 pm, Wellington called on Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to call his next witness. Gaspard indicated that a member of the defence wished to address the court.

Rajcoomar, who is defending Prof Naraynsingh with Queen’s Counsel Karl Hudson Phillips, told the magistrate that at no time did he contact or speak with CJ Sharma with this case or any other matter. “I wish to state,” Rajcoomar declared to the court, “that I, Ravi Rajcoomar, had no conversations by telephone or otherwise with the Hon Chief Justice during the month of December 2004, or at all in connection with any case and, in particular, not concerning the matter of ASP Nadir Khan-v-Prof Vijay Naraynsingh and others.” Rajcoomar said he was one of 17 “members” attached to Trinity Chambers in Port-of-Spain and all telephone calls pass through a  PBX system. The PBX records an incoming call.

The defence attorney also said, “No calls were directed to me by the operator from anyone calling from the number 627-4431 which is attributed to the Hon Chief Justice in the article.” After Rajcoomar’s statement, the preliminary inquiry continued with Gaspard calling three more witnesses for the State, bringing the total number of State witnesses testifying thus far to 21. Yesterday’s witnesses were acting Chief Immigration Officer Keith Ameerali, Justice of the Peace Mottley De Peiza, and Joan Ash, a nursing assistant who worked at the Langmore Health Foundation at the time Chandra Naraynsingh was killed. Gaspard indicated to the magistrate that he will be calling approximately five more witnesses to give evidence before the State closes its case against Prof Naraynsingh, his current wife Seeromani and businessman Elton Ramasir.

Chandra Naraynsingh was gunned down on June 29, 1994, at her workplace at the Langmore Health Foundation. Yesterday’s hearing ended abruptly after just over two hours, when there was an electrical outage at the courthouse. This presented a rare opportunity for Prof Naraynsingh to converse with his daughter Anamika and friends inside the courtroom. When the hearing ended, the professor was moved from the prisoner’s bench to a bench in the public gallery for approximately 15 minutes — a move a police officer said was a security measure for police officers with flashlights to check the staircase from the courtroom to the cellblock in the basement of the courthouse. Hearing resumes today at 10.15 am.