Parika murder trial…

Prosecution to proceed

Attorney-at-Law Neil Boston, who represents murder accused Godfrey Smith, told the court yesterday that he no longer wishes to proceed along the route of pre-trial disclosures .

Boston had requested that the court produce the statements and evidence against his client before the start of the preliminary inquiry but decided he would adhere to the normal procedure. Smith was fingered in the murder of mechanic Deonarine Prahalad and had appeared before Principal Magistrate Oscar Parvatan at the Leonora Magistrate's Court.

Also known as Godfrey Clarke or ‘Soldier', Smith is alleged to have killed Prahalad on December 8, after abducting him from a speedboat which Prahalad was fixing at the Parika waterfront. Smith was one of the men acquitted for the well-known Anna Regina bank robbery years ago which resulted in the death of police officer Richard Fichal.

Prahalad's bullet-riddled and partly decomposed body was found on December 12 at Hamburg Beach in the Essequibo River .