State closes case against 2 charged for Sean Luke's murder

FOUR months after they pleaded not-guilty to the brutal murder of six-year-old Sean Luke in 2006, prosecutors have presented all their evidence against Akeel Mitchell and Richard Chatoo and have closed their case.

Mitchell and Chatoo, who were teenagers when they were charged with the boy’s murder on a date unknown, between March 25 and 29, 2006, in Couva, entered their not-guilty pleas on February 12, before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds, having opted for a judge-only trial.

On Monday, the State closed its case after presenting evidence from 37 witnesses as well as DNA results linking Mitchell to the crime and a video-taped confession by Chatoo.

The final prosecution witness was retired Sgt Alexis Garcia, one of the main investigators in the case and the officer who charged both men.

On Wednesday, attorneys for Mitchell and Chatoo will, in no-case submissions, try to convince the judge that the evidence is insufficient to take the trial further.

Depending on how Ramsumair-Hinds rules on Friday, both accused will be invited to begin their defence.

Mitchell has already said he will not be testifying but his attorneys intend to call Dr Hubert Daisley who performed a second, independent, autopsy on Luke’s body. One of Daisley’s findings was strangulation as a cause of death, as opposed to the official conclusion of the State’s forensic pathologist, Dr Easlyn McDonald-Burris who said the boy died from “internal chest and abdominal injuries and hemorrhage due to a foreign object – a cane stalk – introduced into the body cavity.”

Luke was sodomised with the cane stalk which was inserted through his anus up to his collarbone.

If Chatoo is called on to open his defence, he will take the witness box and will seek to have the testimony his step-father, Raymond Bruzual, gave at the pre-trial session incorporated into the trial. Bruzual is likely to return to be further cross-examined by the prosecution.

If the trial passes that stage, the judge may then entertain closing addresses, either in person or in writing, before she considers her decision.

Ramsumair-Hinds has 14 days in which to provide her verdict and reasons in writing at the close of the case for both sides, in keeping with provisions of the Miscellaneous Provisions (Trial by Judge Alone) Act of 2017.

Investigator's testimony

In his evidence, Garcia said he knew Mitchell was a minor when he interviewed him. He said Mitchell and his mother were not co-operating with the police.

Luke’s father, Daniel Luke, also featured prominently during Garcia’s cross-examination by Mitchell’s attorney, Mario Merritt, who wanted to know why the man was not put on an identification parade although his client and other boys in the area said they saw someone fitting his description take Sean into the cane field.

Garcia said he worked with a sketch artist based on the description given to the police of the person, and said that person “turned out to be a fictitious person.”

“The inquiry revealed no one matching the description given existed,” Garcia said. He also admitted Mitchell was a suspect based on the information given by Arvis Pradeep and Avinash Baboolal, both of whom were the State’s key witnesses against the two and who were present when Luke went missing, although they gave conflicting accounts of when that took place.

Garcia was also questioned by Chatoo’s attorney Evans Welch about the DNA evidence found on a piece of the cane stalk that had been inserted into Luke and on his underpants. The DNA did not match Chatoo, but it did identify the presence of a third person other than Luke himself and Mitchell.

Garcia said if he had that information at the time of his investigation, he would have wanted to take DNA samples from others, including Baboolal and Pradeep.

In response to claims by Chatoo that the police obtained his statement through oppression, inducement and trickery and fabricated the case against him, Garcia insisted this was not true.

Before closing the State’s case, lead prosecutor, assistance DPP Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal admitted into evidence records of both men which showed neither had a criminal record before being charged for Luke’s murder.

Mitchell and Chatoo are also represented by attorneys Kirby Joseph, Randall Raphael, Kelston Pope, and Gabriel Hernandez.

Appearing with Dougdeen-Jaglal are Anju Bhola, and Sophia Sandy-Smith for the prosecution.