Friday, October 22, 2010

Bakr walks free; DPP says State's evidence not enough for murder conviction

Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr has been freed on a charge of murder.

On Thursday Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard said the State did not have enough evidence to proceed with the case against Bakr and Brent "Big Brent" Miller.

Both men were charged on September 29 on the basis of testimony by Coroner Nalini Singh that there was sufficient evidence to charge them for the killing of 22-year-old mechanic Israel Sammy, who was abducted from his Maraval home on May 20, 1998, beaten and shot dead

However when the matter was called Gaspard told Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar the State would not be able to proceed against both men because the case did not have any "evidential basis" for the State to proceed.

He added that based on the available evidence there was only a negligible possibility of a guilty verdict and that "no jury properly directed could convict".

However the coroner had stated that Miller confessed to participating in "a joint enterprise to murder Israel Sammy" and that the evidence is admissible against Miller. She had also said that the confession implicated Bakr in the killing of Sammy.

She had also stated that based on the evidence she found that she was satisfied "beyond reasonable doubt that there is sufficient evidence before this coroner, linking both Mr Brent Miller and Mr Yasin Abu Bakr to the commission of the indictable offence of murder."

Bakr's attorney thanked Gaspard, whom she described as an "intellectually strong-minded" DPP and called for further training in the rule of law that one accused cannot give evidence against another.

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Jai & Sero

Jai & Sero

Our family at home in Toronto 2008

Our family at home in Toronto 2008
Amit, Heather, Fuzz, Aj, Jiv, Shiva, Rampa, Sero, Jai