Killed over a bird?

A 1999 Old Year’s night dispute over a parakeet resulted in the shooting death of a gardener by his best friend, a State witness suggested yesterday. But the defence is claiming that the quarrel was not over a bird, but allegations involving drug trafficking.

This was in part evidence which came out before Justice Prakash Moosai in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Court, where Premchan “Baldwin” Bridgelal, 20, of St Clair Road, Five Rivers, Arouca, is charged with the murder of gardener Lutchman “Neil” Maharaj of the same street.   

Samuel Russell, a State witness in the trial, also admitted that the village of St Clair Road, “had  closed ranks and was coming (to court) for” murder accused Baldwin. Russell was responding to a suggestion by defence attorney Israel Khan SC, after two of three State witnesses testifying for the first time yesterday, that they had seen Neil with his hands up in the air before Baldwin shot him. Russell was one, and the other was Selwyn Joseph. According to defence attorneys Khan and Larry Lalla, both men had not made such a disclosure in their statements to the police, before the magistrate at the preliminary inquiry or while State prosecutor Kathy-Ann Waterman-Latchoo was leading them in evidence yesterday. They did so under cross-examination.

Another witness, Neil’s uncle, Himraj “Moses”  Lakhan, told the jury of eight men and four women that when he rushed to where Neil was shot, he saw him lying in a pool of blood and when he moved Neil’s jersey, he saw a cutlass in his waist. He said he removed the cutlass and took it home, but later handed it over to the police. Russell, Joseph and Nikeshia Richardson, testified that they witnessed the shooting of Neil by Baldwin. The defence is not denying that Baldwin shot Neil, but is suggesting he did so in self-defence. It was put to witnesses that Neil came running toward Baldwin and had dipped his hand in his waist to pull out something when Baldwin shot him. The defence strongly denied that Neil had his hands in the air when he was shot. The witnesses agreed that both Neil and Baldwin were good friends, but just before the new year was ushered in, both men had an argument.