The witness is Junior Grandison. Ten years ago his testimony led to the conviction of 10 men for the murder of Thackoor Boodram, the brother of executed drug lord Dole Chadee.
At the time Grandison was considered the "most wanted man" in Trinidad and Tobago. He struck a deal in return for his testimony, which was strong enough to get convictions against the accused men.
Now, according to a report in the Newsday newspaper, Grandison says he lied.
The paper said it has seen an affidavit from Grandison dated June 1, 2011 in which Gandison said the evidence he gave at the trial “was false and did not represent the truth.”
His lie led to the conviction on August 7, 2007 of Michael “Rat” Maharaj, Samuel Maharaj, Damien “Tommy” Ramiah, Bobby Ramiah, Seenath “Farmer” Ramiah, Daniel “Fella” Gopaul, Richard Huggins, Leslie Huggins, Mark “Bico” Jaikaran and Junior “Heads” Phillip.
The men were sentenced to hang although each of them claimed he was innocent. They lost their appeals but had their sentences commuted to life in prison because of a delay in hearing the appeal.
Newsday said one of the 10 men - Junior Phillips - will not benefit from Grandison's confession because another witness gave substantive evidence to Phillip’s role in the killing.
Phillip’s cousin, Haile Selassie Amoroso, testified that he saw Phillip shoot Thackoor three times in his head at close range on December 30, 1997, at a forested area in Mandillion Road, Sangre Grande.
Newsday said the former witness said while he was in jail Thakoor's brother, Panalal Boodram, coerced him to give evidence against the men. He said he and Boodram were in the same cell block in prison and Boodram provided all the details that he later presented in court.
He said he knew what he did was wrong but was afraid to deal with it until now.
Read the full details in NEWSDAY
No comments:
Post a Comment