Accused is no ‘country bookie’

Bachan, 24, who portrayed himself at the trial as a "country bookie," is charged with Sampson’s murder. He will know his fate next Monday when Justice Devan Rampersad will sum-up the case, after which the jury will deliberate on a verdict.

In her closing address to the jury, Waterman-Latchoo insisted that Bachan was no "country bookie" and was in fact the one who killed Sampson. She asked the jury to ask if Bachan’s story was plausible, when he said he saw Daniel Goolcharan put the knife to the driver’s throat, and his first reaction was to put his hands around the neck of front seat passenger Dianne Jones.

Bachan had testified that he was under the impression that the car was going to stop suddenly, so he grabbed her to brace her. Waterman-Latchoo also recalled that even after that incident, Bachan got out of the backseat of the car and drove the vehicle. She said there is no evidence of duress — that he was forced to drive.

Waterman-Latchoo, assisted by prosecutor Shoba Jamunar, reminded the 12-member jury that Bachan had claimed that he had never left the Ortoire/Mayaro district, yet, when he drove the hijacked taxi along the Uriah Butler Highway and over the flyover back to San Juan, he did not ask for directions, nor did he let Jones go when he alleged that Goolcharan and Joshua Ramnath went into the bush with Sampson.

Waterman-Latchoo also suggested that the jury use Jones’ evidence as a guide. Jones testified that Bachan was the one who threatened to stab her with the knife if she attempted to run. She also said that when Bachan left the car, she saw movement in the bush as though they were punching Sampson. Her version contradicted Bachan who claimed it was Ramnath and Goolcharan who beat Sampson.

Defence attorney Larry Williams contended that Ramnath, who was granted immunity, was the real killer, and not Bachan. He asserted that Ramnath was lying to save his own skin. Williams, assisted by Celeste Jules, advanced that Bachan’s behaviour was not consistent with that of a cold-blooded killer who, according to Bachan’s testimony, wished to free John, the only eyewitness to the murder.

Bachan, 24, of Gopie Hill Trace, Union Village, Mayaro, is before Justice Devan Rampersad charged with the murder of Sampson on February 21, 2001.