Berbice.After eight years on the run and several trials, a 37-year-old man found himself before the Albion Magistrate’s Court again charged with murder.
The charge read by Magistrate Fabio Azore was not strange to Abdulssalam “Sato” Azimullah who was first charged for the murder of Gary “Fat Boy” Simon on December 18, 2004. The state’s case is that Azimullah, Ganshan “Suresh” Jagassar, and Devindra “Bara” Harrichand killed Simon in December, 2004, at Albion, Corentyne.
On March 10, 2011, the latter two had the charges against them dropped after Justice Franklyn Holder upheld a no-case submission by defence counsels Kim Kyte-John and Vic Puran, on the grounds that the committals and indictments were bad in law, but the two were arrested minutes later and appeared before Magistrate Adela Nagamootoo that same day to answer the charge once again.
Azimullah had been out on bail and had not attended the trial. On February 22, an arrest warrant was issued for him. Even before that, the case made headlines when on August 12, 2009, a prominent Berbice defence attorney, Mursaline Bacchus was charged for allegedly inducing the wife of the murder victim to give conflicting evidence at a preliminary inquiry.
Bacchus, who was defending the accused, allegedly paid the woman to perjure herself. The attorney was charged with perverting the course of justice on the advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).
Azimullah, who was nabbed recently with several others in a house at Edinburgh Village, East Bank Berbice after they allegedly robbed a couple at West Canje while armed with an AK47, will be back at the Albion Magistrate’s Court on July 24 when Magistrate Azore is expected to commence the preliminary inquiry.
