Mother and Lover found guilty of Neesa Gopaul's murder

A 12-member jury on Thursday afternoon found Bibi Shareema Gopaul and her ex-lover Jarvis Barry Small, guilty of the murder of Gopaul’s 16-year-old daughter Neesa Gopaul.

The two showed little emotion as the jury foreman announced the guilty verdict. The mother started to tremble as the Judge announced the sentencing.

The mother, Bibi Shareema Gopaul was sentenced to 106 years in jail while her ex-lover was sentenced to 96 years behind bars. The sentences were handed down by Justice Navindra Singh.

The teenager was brutally murdered in October of 2010. The case captured the attention of the nation after the Queens College student’s body was found in a suitcase at a creek along the Linden Soesdyke Highway. The young woman had been reported missing from her Leonora home by her mother just a few days earlier.

The prosecution’s case was that the teenager was murdered by the mother’s lover who was assisted by the mother. Her body was later tied up and placed in a suitcase and taken to the creek on the highway for disposal. When the body was found in the suitcase, the suitcase was wrapped with rope with dumbbells to the end. Those dumbbells belonged to the lover according to the prosecution and eyewitnesses.

The star witness for the prosecution team was a woman who served time behind bars with Bibi Gopaul. That witness, Simone DeNobrega testifed that Bibi admitted to her that not only did she play a part in the murder of her daughter but she was also responsible for the death of her husband who died mysteriously a few months earlier. The lover moved into the home just after the husband’s death.

Twenty seven persons testified during the trial but the two accused never took the stand in their own defence. They were represented by Attorneys George Thomas and Lyndon Amsterdam.

The Prosecution team was made up of state prosecutors Diana Kaulesar, Mercedes Thompson and Stacey Goodings.

Filed: 5th February 2015