Caribbean Court halts murder accused Marcus Bisram’s retrial until hearing of appeal

Last Updated on Friday, 11 June 2021, 21:17 by Denis Chabrol

Efforts by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to get murder accused Guyanese-American Marcus Bisram to face retrial were Friday halted by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).

At a case management hearing, the CCJ ordered that no steps be taken to lock up  Bisram but he must surrender his passports to police by next week Monday.

CCJ Justices Jacob Witt, Maureen Rajnauth-Lee and and Peter Jamadar stayed the Guyana Court of Appeal decision that Bisram be trialed again by a judge and jury for the murder of  Fiayaz Narinedatt at Number 70 Village, Corentyne, between October 31 and November 1, 2016.

Bisram moved to the CCJ after the Guyana Court of Appeal on May 31 agreed with the DPP that there was sufficient evidence to commit him to stand trial.  The Magistrates Court had ruled that there had been insufficient evidence to commit him to stand trial by a judge and jury but hours later he had been rearrested.

The Guyana High Court later had thrown out the case and the DPP appealed.

But on Friday, the CCJ also ordered that the DPP takes “no further steps in the existing criminal proceedings to further the prosecution of  the applicant including but not limited to any steps to detain the applicant pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.”

The Trinidad-headquartered regional court further ordered Bisram to surrender his passports to the Registrar of Guyana’s Supreme Court by Monday, June 14 at 12 PM.

Bisram was told by the CCJ that he must remain in Guyana and report to the Divisional Commander of ‘B’ Division or his Deputy by noon by 12 noon of every week until the hearing and determination of the appeal.

After a long-running court battle in the United States, Bisram was last year extradited to Guyana to face the murder charge.

Previously, the DPP had asked the Magistrate to reopen a preliminary inquiry into the alleged murder of Narinedatt by Bisram.

The prosecution’s case was that Bisram had instructed five other men to kill Narinedatt because he had retaliated when he (Bisram) had allegedly held the man’s penis and buttock.

Evidence provided by Guyanese police show that Narinedatt had been beaten, thrown in a drain, removed and placed in a car trunk and placed on a road to make it appear as if Narinedatt had been struck down by a vehicle.