Four police officers testify in Sherleytine murder trial |27 January 2023
The prosecution in the ongoing murder trial of 21-year-old Sherleytine Ernesta produced four witnesses before court and the jury yesterday, all serving in different capacities and different units of the Seychelles police force.
First to appear on the stand was an officer of the rank of assistant superintendent (ASP) who had started to testify before court on Tuesday, prior to the matter being adjourned due to the second accused, Ashten Elisabeth, being taken ill.
According to the officer, after a resident of Bougainville reported some information to the Anse Royale police station regarding some strange things which he had allegedly sighted on his way home on May 2, 2022, she, along with numerous other officers from different units of the force attended the scene on May 4.
The resident referred to by the officer testified before court on Tuesday and stated that he reported to the Anse Royale police station the morning of May 4, after Sherleytine had been reported missing by her mother on May 3, and the police issued a call for information regarding her whereabouts in national media.
He had recounted to court how he allegedly spotted a pair of lady's slippers and a bag, along with a stick covered with nails on his way home on May 2, at around 1.45pm.
He also told court how he had seen a metallic coloured Daihatsu Sirion car parked along the same route, and that he recognised the car as belonging to the first accused in the matter Lussel Labiche. Additionally, the witness claimed to have sighted the back profile of a female, disappearing into the bushes around the same vicinity and time.
During yesterday's hearing, the testifying officer noted that they attended the scene on the very same day, May 4, to conduct a search. While she noted that she had not seen the slippers nor the bag, she did however see the stick with nails on top of a rock in the same area communicated to her by the resident.
The officers then split into two groups so as to cover more grounds, she stated, and was alerted by a fellow officer searching higher grounds that he had seen something. Upon making her way to the spot, she saw a female body in a bush of ferns, at around 11.15am, she told court.
The officer added that she contacted the investigating officer of the scientific support and crime records bureau (SSCRB) to attend and hand over the scene to be processed. While still on scene, she issued instructions to officers in her team to assist with the removal of the body to be transported to the mortuary.
The ASP further informed court how on May 5 she also assisted CID officers to execute a search warrant at Labiche's home. That same night at around 9.30pm, she was informed by investigating officer that the second suspect, Elisabeth, wanted to talk to her, where she revealed that she had at her house the mobile phone belonging to Sherleytine.
Elisabeth allegedly agreed to show the officer where she kept the phone at her sister's house, and did so, also in the presence of two officers of the CID. Elisabeth allegedly removed the Apple Iphone branded phone from a shelving unit in the living room at her sister's residence, at around 9.40pm.
The second officer, the sergeant who first spotted the body, which he claims was also covered with ferns, relayed to the court and jury his role.
Similarly, a police constable recounted how she was nominated to examine and confirm whether it was indeed a female body. According to her account, the body was discovered in a fern bush, with both the nose and mouth covered in grey tape. Visible bruises which she described were a cut to the right arm, cut to the abdomen, two cuts to the left thigh, and a cut on where the intestines are located within the body, she told court. The officer added that clothing items on the body included black panties, and a black floral-patterned piece on the upper body.
The three witnesses were cross examined by the prosecution, comprising Clifford Andre representing Labiche, and Audric Govinden and Efna Chang-Thiou, counsels representing Elisabeth.
A criminal investigation department (CID) officer was the fourth to testify before court yesterday to detail his involvement in the matter. He noted that he assisted in examining Labiche's vehicle, the metallic coloured Sirion which had been seized at the Anse Royale police station, since Sherleytine had last been spotted in it. The officer arrested Labiche on May 4 when the missing person report turned into a murder case with the discovery of the body.
The CID officer further noted that he listened to 146 recordings recovered from Elisabeth's phone as part of the investigation, from which he extracted three call recordings.
He stated that the three allegedly indicate the pair's involvement in the death of Sherleytine. Two of the audio files recovered are from before May 2, the day on which Sherleytine was presumed to have been allegedly murdered.
Court had the opportunity to hear one of the shorter audio files, and part of a second one were played back for the officer to confirm whether they are indeed the tapes which were played back to Elisabeth during an interview which he conducted with her.
Allegedly, he said that Elisabeth confirmed that the voices in the recordings are hers and Labiche's and that the contents were them planning how to kill Sherleytine, and how to cover up the act if her family are asking questions.
Elisabeth was also shown seven pages from her seized notebook during the interview, which also allegedly contained plans to kill Sherleytine, the officer stated to court.
The same CID officer will be back in court this morning, where presiding judge and Chief Justice Rony Govinden and the jurors are to hear the remainder of the hour-long recording.
Laura Pillay