Charges dropped in double wounding case

WHAT began as a violent altercation between two men in July 2021 ended in court with both being cleared of the serious charges against them.

On July 27, 2021, Joey Mungaroo was charged with wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Vishal Sookoo. Sookoo was also accused of the same offence against Mungaroo.

While both men were initially set to face trial, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) dropped the case against Sookoo in February 2025, leaving Mungaroo before the court.

In a surprising turn of events, the case against Mungaroo was thrown out on June 9 due to a lack of evidence.

On April 15, Master Whitney Franklin directed the prosecution to serve Mungaroo with the official charge and disclose all witness statements from both cases.

The sufficiency hearing for Mungaroo began on June 9, and the State began presenting its evidence, submitting 13 witness statements. However, the defence objected to 12 of those statements, arguing they were not admissible. The court agreed.

After this, defence attorneys Suuneesh Singh, Rajiv Rickhi and Shveta Parasram argued there was no case to answer, as there was not enough evidence to support the charge. The court agreed and dismissed the case against Mungaroo.