Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The State has closed its case against a man accused of murdering an elderly Caparo businessman in 2006.
State prosecutors Charmaine Samuel and Gillana Guy presented the evidence of their remaining witnesses when Richard “Bean” Mc Bain’s trial came up for hearing before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain yesterday morning.
The witnesses’ evidence focused on the pair of pants Mc Bain was wearing when he allegedly stabbed Stephen Hackshaw to death during a botched home invasion on April 16, 2006.
Mc Bain’s former friend Marvin St Clair, who he worked with as a mason and sugar cane harvester, testified that his wife gave Mc Bain the pair of grey and black pants, which had belonged to her deceased son, several months before the attack on Hackshaw. St Clair claimed he saw Mc Bain wearing the pants hours before the attack when he passed by his house and asked him for a cigarette.
He also claimed that he saw Mc Bain with a unique combat knife, which he is alleged to have used to murder Hackshaw.
Prosecutors also sought to lead the evidence of Mervyn Hall, Mc Bain’s friend, who told police Mc Bain informed him about his plan to rob Hackshaw and came to him for a place to hide after the murder.
On Monday, Hall’s brother, Gary Farrell, who allegedly made similar claims, was deemed a hostile witness after he claimed he could not remember giving the information to the police and refused to testify.
Senior Supt Sean Dhilpaul, the complainant in the case, detailed the steps he took to locate Hall before the start of the trial.
Dhilpaul said he visited Hall’s home at Montrose, Chaguanas, and spoke to Farrell, who claimed his siblings had migrated to Guyana for a job.
Dhilpaul also said that immigration officials indicated that Hall had not left T&T through a lawful port as he had never been issued a passport. He also revealed that while Hall renewed his driver’s permit in 2022, he used the same address that he (Dhilpaul) was familiar with. Dhilpaul also said that prison officials told him Hall was not in their custody.
After hearing the evidence, Justice Ramsumair-Hinds allowed prosecutors to tender Hall’s statement, given to police hours after the murder, into evidence.
In the statement, Hall said when he refused to allow Mc Bain to stay at his home after he confessed to murdering Hackshaw, Mc Bain left his blood-stained pants and a bag containing the alleged murder weapon.
Hall also claimed that Mc Bain showed him a revolver, which he is alleged to have stolen after stabbing Hackshaw.
Also testifying yesterday was Sgt Richardson Evlyn, who recorded the statement from Hall and retrieved the pants and knife. He denied that he coerced Hall into giving the statement.
“He was calm, cooperative and willing,” Evlyn said.
He also claimed that it was not unusual that the statement was given at Hall’s home after midnight.
“Some witnesses do not like to come to the station,” he said.
Evlyn said after he collected the pants from the Forensic Science Centre he stored it at the property room at the San Fernando Police Station. He said it was destroyed in a fire at that location in 2009.
After Dhilpaul closed the case, Mc Bain elected to not testify in his defence or call witnesses. Justice Ramsumair-Hinds advised the jury to not make adverse inferences based on his decision to remain silent.
“The law says he is entitled to remain silent ... You cannot hold his silence against him,” she said.
Prosecutors and Mc Bain’s defence attorneys are expected to deliver their closing addresses to the jury when the trial resumes this afternoon.
The jury is expected to deliberate after Justice Ramsumair-Hinds summarises the legal issues and evidence for them next week.
Mc Bain is being represented by Stephen Wilson and Ayanna Norville of the Public Defenders’ Department.
