Retrials for 3 charged with 2005 Duke St double murder

RETRIALS were ordered for the three men who were charged with the murder of a Duke Street, Port of Spain, couple in 2005.

However, they will not all be retried for Susan Rajcoomar’s murder. Only Hamid Neils will face a new jury.

He was found not guilty of Shyam Ramdass's murder, and was discharged by Justice Maria Wilson on that count.

Kamau Farai and Devon Sookoo will face a new trial for Ramdass’s murder. They were both found not guilty of Rajcoomar’s murder and were discharged of those counts by the judge.

All three men were each on two-count indictments for the couple’s murder on January 12, 2005.

The retrials were ordered after the 12-member jury said they could not all agree on a verdict for the men, even after they deliberated for close to five hours.

When they were first brought back after the four-hour period allotted to them for their deliberations, the jury could not agree on verdicts for Farai, but found Neils not guilty of Ramdass’s murder and Sookoo not guilty of Rajcoomar’s murder.

They returned to continue their deliberations for another 55 minutes, and found Farai not guilty of Rajcoomar’s murder.

They still could not agree on their other verdicts for the other two and said further additional time would not help.

Rajcoomar, 51, was shot and chopped on the head, neck and hands and died minutes after the attack. Ramdass, 52, who was also shot and had his left hand severed by a chop, died later at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

One of the couple’s sons, Johan Rajcoomar, was shot in the face during the attack at his mother’s home. The couple’s other two sons were in court yesterday when the jury returned with their verdicts.

Farai was represented by attorney Larry Williams, while Neils is represented by attorney Ravi Rajcoomar and Sookoo by attorney Kirk Hogan.

State attorneys Joy Balkaran and Giselle Heller-Ferguson prosecuted the case against the men.