Sookhoo guilty of attempted murder

TORTUGA GARDENER Eugesh Sookhoo was found guilty by a jury yesterday of attempting to murder teenager Tishura Chinnia by choking her. The jury presiding over Sookhoo’s case took just about one hour to bring the guilty verdict before the court.

Chinnia, 19, gleefully hugged her mother and smiled broadly with relatives and friends in the courtroom, who had come out to support her during the case in the San Fernando First Criminal Assizes. Sookhoo, 39, of Cedar Hill Road, Tortuga, denied the charge when he testified before Justice Melville Baird and the nine-member jury, which included four women.

Chinnia, who was left physically disabled after the incident, testified last Wednesday against Sookhoo and identifed him as the man who attacked her two years ago. As she was reduced to tears several times during her testimony, Chinnia recalled that on February 11, 2001, around 3.30 pm, she awoke when she felt a pair of hands around her neck strangling her. The teen said she opened her eyes to see Sookhoo, her neighbour and her father’s employee, choking her. Chinnia detailed to the judge and jury how she bravely fought her attacker around their house, as he repeatedly told her he wanted to kill her.

The girl testified that she evenutally lost consciouness and when she awoke Sookhoo had left. She said she crawled out of her house and fell onto the road, and neighbours came to her assistance. PC Steve Haynes of the Gran Couva Police Station laid the charge against Sookhoo. In mitigation, Sookhoo’s attorney, Ian Gray, asked Justice Baird to consider that his client was a father of four children, the oldest being ten years old. Gray also indicated that Sookhoo had not been previously convicted of a crime. Justice Baird remanded Sookhoo into custody until today when he will pass his sentence.