Eight months behind bars-Imprisoned on false testimony.

Mahaicony ECD- He rushed to his children’s school to give them a surprise, the first act of a father who waited 8 months to embrace his loved ones. His two boys elated to see him as they rushed to his arms. Deonarine Sasenarine popularly known as Chow was acquitted on a murder charge yesterday. He paid a heavy price for responding to a friend’s call for help not knowing that days later he would be jailed for the murder of a Haslington man who was of unsound mind. .I investigated this story in May last year after the evidence given by two main witnesses seemed circumstantial. After a 10 minute piece on the entire case retracing the entire story as it played out I concluded that the farmer may have been framed. The next few months after the release of the investigative piece the case would hit a snag with the delays and attempts to hide crucial evidence that was unearthed to prove the farmer’s innocence. Calls to Mahaicony station were referred to Cove and John, checks with the DPP office went back and forth until the community outreach officer explained that the DPP had made a decision and the file sent to Mahaicony for the next court date after 5 months which was hit by constant delays. The case involves the body of a labourer. Seon Waldron who was found floating in the Mahaicony creek on May 8 last year. His body was fished out bearing wounds and what the autopsy showed to be blunt trauma as the cause of death. Two days after the farmer was called in for questioning and subsequently arrested. The next week he would become the police’s main suspect. It was testimonies by two witnesses that falsely claimed they say Chow beating the victim. But the investigation unearthed facts given by 3 other witnesses and time stamp that never corroborated with the two witnesses who in coming days would be discredited. On May 15 Sasenarine was charged with murder by Magistrate Wanda Fortune at the Mahaicony Court and remanded to prison. But the real hero in this story is the farmer’s wife Savitri Mahadeo. Relentlessly she pursued every avenue to clear her husband’s name. Turning up to court every date going after additional evidence with the help of her lawyer to prove his innocence. Ive had the privilege to meet her on many occasions as together we pursued justice for Sasenarine. But during the course of the 8 months he’s been locked away, evidence of a plot to frame him was plain as day. The witnesses would go public days after he was charged to recant their testimonies claiming that they were coerced by Mahaicony Police beaten and threatened to lie. But despite this break in the case the justice system denied the farmer his freedom. Every time the matter was called the case file was never present forcing delays upon delays. Six months after the discrredited witnesses came clean Sasenarine’ freedom was still in limbo as his wife and two boys bare the brunt of harsh times finacially and emotionally since he was the sole bread winner. Christmas came and the family’s hope faded after the case was again postponed into 2019. Yesterday the two witnesses on whose false evidence he languished in prison, took the stand and spoke the truth resulting in an acquittal. The Magistrate had no questions in dismissing the case, since the prosecution’s main witnesses lied under oath. The system failed Sasenarine but in the end the truth set him free. Was Seon Waldron murdered by a killer still roaming free or did he die by accident falling overboard into the Mahaicony creek. Another case left unsolved.

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