Teen to stand trial for killing friend

A 17-year-old boy was yesterday committed to stand trial for manslaughter after a Port-of-Spain magistrate found that a prima facie case had been made out against him. Riaz Mohammed of Upper Roosewood Avenue, Coconut Drive, Morvant, is accused of shooting to death his friend, 17-year-old Gideon George, last year. The matter was heard before Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls in the city’s Eighth court. Reports state that George, of Never Dirty, Morvant, was shot in the stomach on August 18, 2003, while visiting friends in the area in which Mohammed lived. He died as a result of his injuries moments after he was shot. After hearing evidence from several witnesses yesterday, Mc Nicolls, also heard submissions from both the prosecution and the defence. He then announced his decision to send the matter to the High Court.

Attorney representing the accused, Frank Thompson, submitted that no evidence had come from the prosecution to prove his client behaved in a reckless manner. “What is clear here is that the accused and the deceased were friends, and in his statement, it was clearly said that the shooting was an accident. Outside of the statement, there was absolutely no evidence of assault between the two boys,” said Thompson. However, court prosecutor, acting Insp Kenneth Cordner, submitted that the statement given by the accused, which was tendered into evidence, did in fact establish a prima facie case against the accused. Cordner openly disagreed with the defence attorney’s submission that the prosecution failed to establish the state of mind of the accused during the time of the incident, saying that establishing such a thing was a job for a jury to do.

With that said, the prosecutor asked that the teenager be committed to stand trial for the offence. The chief magistrate agreed with the prosecution, and committed the teenager to stand trial at the next sitting of the Assizes. Thompson wasted no time in submitting a bail application on behalf of the accused. The accused’s mother, who was present in court, told the magistrate she was concerned about her son as he had moved out of her home and gone to live with his father since the matter began. Mohammed’s mother told the magistrate since her son had gone to live with her estranged husband, Imtiaz Mohammed, he had not been to school and his father seemed to have very little control over the boy. Speaking on behalf of his son, however, Mohammed told the magistrate while his son had in fact stopped going to school, he was  learning a trade which occupied most of his time. The chief magistrate then granted bail in the sum of $25,000.