Marcus Bisram freed again as High Court throws out DPP’s committal instructions

Back in March, Bisram was set free after a Berbice Magistrate upheld the no-case submission by his Attorneys. However, he was arrested hours after his release as the Director of Public Prosecutions directed the Magistrate to reopen the Preliminary Inquiry and commit him to stand trial in the High Court.

Marcus Bisram freed again as High Court throws out DPP’s committal instructions

Flamboyant Guyanese American businessman, Marcus Bisram, walked out of the Camp Street prison a free man this afternoon after High Court Judge, Simone Morris-Ramlall, ordered his release while dismissing the committal for him to stand trial for murder.

Back in March, Bisram was set free after a Berbice Magistrate upheld the no-case submission by his Attorneys. However, he was arrested hours after his release as the Director of Public Prosecutions directed the Magistrate to reopen the Preliminary Inquiry and commit him to stand trial in the High Court.

It was that decision that forced Bisram’s battery of lawyers including Sanjeev Datadin and Dexter Todd to approach the High Court seeking several orders.

Today, Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall agreed with the arguments of Bisram’s lawyers and quashed the DPP’s decision to direct the Magistrate to re-open the preliminary inquiry. The Judge said that decision by the DPP was unreasonable, unlawful and was made by ignoring relevant considerations.

The Judge also quashed the DPP’s decision to direct the Magistrate to commit Bisram to stand a High Court trial for the offence of murder.

Additionally, the Judge also granted an order of quashing the decision of the Magistrate to commit Bisram to stand trial in the High Court for the offence of murder.

An order of prohibition was also granted prohibiting the DPP from proffering an indictment in the High Court charging Marcus Bisram with the offence of murder.

His arrest on the 30th March has been deemed as unlawful and his incarceration since his arrest was also deemed as unlawful by the High Court. The Court also ordered his immediate release from Prison.

Bisram’s Attorney Dexter Todd told News Source that he is pleased with the orders of the Court. He said the DPP was wrong to instruct the Magistrate to reopen the preliminary inquiry and commit his client to stand a High Court trial when there was no evidence for conviction.

Todd said while the DPP has the power to instruct the reopening of cases and to direct committals, the circumstances of this particular case were different since there was no evidence tying his client to the murder of carpenter Faiyaz Narinedatt.

He said even the witnesses that the Prosecution was depending on to strengthen its case against Bisram, could not directly link the man to the murder during their appearance before the Court at the preliminary inquiry stage.

Marcus Bisram was extradited from the United States last year to face the murder charge in the local courts. That extradition came after a long battle in the US Courts by him to block the extradition.

Once in Guyana, Bisram was charged, but his case crawled through the Courts as there were several issues regarding the Prosecution’s readiness and the first Magistrate who started to hear the matter. That Magistrate was forced to remove himself from the case.

The preliminary inquiry eventually got underway and after listening to the witnesses who were called during the inquiry, the lawyers for Bisram submitted their no-case submission.

 A number of other persons have also been charged in connection with the same murder.

The murder victim, Faiyaz Narinedatt was beaten to death then crushed by a car in Berbice after it was alleged that he turned down advances by Bisram.

By the time the matter was investigated, Bisram had already left the country.

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