Trial for the murder of Rupert Berney Appasamy   Court gathers evidence from two police officers and one civilian |14 May 2022

Two police officers and one civilian were before the court yesterday, giving evidence in the ongoing trial for the murder of Rupert Berney Appasamy whose completely decomposed body was found shallowly buried at Bougainville, Takamaka on September 23, 2021.

Due to the sensitive nature of the case, the media has been advised, from now on, not to mention names of witnesses, or other names that come up at any moment during the case which is being presided over by Justice Mohan Niranjit Burhan.

The two accused in the case are Sindu Parekh and Ken Jean-Charles who are being represented by lawyers Tony Juliette and Olivier Chang-Leng respectively, while Corrine Rose and Georges Thachet are the prosecution lawyers.

The first witness at yesterday’s hearing was a detective inspector from the Scientific Support and Crime Record Bureau (SSCRB) who had the task of taking some of the exhibits – 48 in total – to Mauritius for analysis, precisely the swab tests for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).

The detective inspector, who specialises in crime scene examination, fingerprints and forensic photography, explained that upon receiving the 48 sealed exhibits – all in evidence envelopes – from his colleague, he kept all of them in his possession, under lock and key, before personally taking them to Mauritius, precisely at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Reduit, Mauritius.

Yesterday in court, the detective inspector also provided the examination submission form signed by his superior which he handed over to the Mauritian authority along with the exhibits.

There was no cross examination from both defence attorney regarding the evidence given by the first witness.

Second on the stand was another police officer, precisely a detective corporal who was the one responsible to retrieve the processed exhibits from Mauritius.

He confirmed that upon receiving the evidence, which were all properly sealed, accompanied by reports, he placed them in evidence boxes.

The detective corporal noted that once back with the evidence, he submitted them to the exhibit officer for the case; while the reports, including collection form were handed over to the case’s investigating officer.

The third witness to appear before the court yesterday was a civilian who claimed that he was close to both the deceased and another individual who was a former suspect in the case, but will now be giving evidence for the prosecution.

The witness explained that the deceased had been working with him for a while in his road cleaning business.

He said that on one particular morning while working, he noticed the deceased talking to the man who he said was a player on the basketball team he coached years back while working on Praslin.

The witness told the court that the deceased later told him that he made acquaintance of the individual while serving time in prison.

He further told the court that on September 10, 2021 in the morning, the man approached him, seeking direction to the deceased place, to which he guided him.

He explained that on the following day, precisely in the morning, while taking out the thrash, he saw the deceased’s mother and he asked her whether someone came looking for her son the previous day.

The witness told the court that yes, the mother confirmed that the person did come looking for his son, but he was not present at that time.

He said the following day, he saw the man again, and this time he asked him “where is my buddy”, referring to the deceased.

The witness told the court that at that point, he did not bother, since he had previously guided him to the victim’s place.

While in court, the witness was also asked to identify the former accused, which he did.

The hearing will continue on Monday.

Roland Duval