Ex-cop freed of killing Canadians on beach

The  prosecution’s case against ex-policeman Roland Doorgadeen, accused of killing Canadian couple Geoff Barnes and his wife Sherell Ann in 1994, fell to pieces yesterday when his wife, Nicole, refused to testify against her husband. As a result, Doorgadeen was set free. Nicole, the State’s main witness in the case, claimed that all that she had sworn to under oath and testified to in the Magistrates’ Court, and in the High Court last year during his first trial, were lies.

Her statement sent shock waves through the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court, as she also alleged the police had threatened to kill, jail and charge her as an accomplice with her husband and put her two children in foster homes, if she did not testify against him. Nicole, who has a criminal record for six counts of fraud, also claimed that she was offered money by the police to make a new start in life in exchange for her testimony. In tears, she also stated that her 16-year-old daughter had run away from home because of her testimony against her husband, and she did not know where her daughter was. She even claimed the police told her that relatives of the deceased, the Canadian government and TT Government were putting pressure on them to find the Barnes’ killer(s).
 
Describing the situation as a bizarre turn of events, Justice Melville Baird called for a full investigation into Nicole’s allegations. He insisted the matter “must not be left unheeded or swept under the carpet — there must be resolution.” Senior State prosecutor Wayne Rajbansie, assisted by prosecutor Angelica Teelucksingh, said that without Nicole’s evidence, they would be unable to prove their case against Doorgadeen and invited Justice Baird to instruct the jury to return a verdict of not guilty. In January 2003, Doorgadeen faced a six-week trial for the same offence, but a jury failed to agree on a unanimous verdict, and Justice Herbert Volney had to order a retrial. Defence attorneys Ravi Rajcoomar, Prakash Ramadhar, Ian Ibrahim, Jacklyn Chan and Ali, recalled that at the previous trial, these same allegations were put to Nicole, but she had denied them. They have also joined Justice Baird in his call for an immediate inquiry into these allegations.    

Doorgadeen, 38, of Gunness Circular Drive in Princes Town, made his way out of the Hall of Justice with his mother Mime, and with his hand raised in victory. He said he was going to his mother’s New Grant home to eat roti and tomato choka and run 15 miles. Asked if he still loved his wife, who has since divorced him, Doorgadeen replied, “I am a Catholic, and I have taken a vow.” Nicole sat in a van with the inscription “Sacred Heart RC, La Brea,” outside the court and watched her ex-husband as he talked to their mutual friend, Sister Paul Clarke of La Brea Catholic Church, and members of the media. When the matter was called last week, defence attorneys failed in an application to stop Nicole’s testimony against her husband under a law which was amended to accommodate such testimony.

Nicole started her testimony by answering questions about certain aspects of her life and her marriage to Roland. When asked by Rajbansie if she recalled an incident in May 1994 in connection to his matter, she replied, “No sir.” She then said she did not wish to give evidence in the matter, and itemised her many reasons for her decision. During the first trial, the evidence against  Doorgadeen was that he and others had plotted to kill the Barnes and collect Can$200,000 in insurance money. A man by the name of Sunil Gopaul, a former boyfriend of Sherell Ann, had taken out a life insurance policy on her, naming himself as beneficiary of Can $200,000 in the event of her accidental death.