Sean Luke’s neighbours were on the right track to identifying who was responsible for the gruesome murder when they set fire to the home of a teenage resident, who was held by police and released after he implicated the two men currently on trial.
The claim was made by attorney Evans Welch as he presented his closing address on behalf of Richard Chatoo, during a virtual hearing of the trial before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds yesterday.
Much like Akeel Mitchell’s attorney, who preceded him on Monday, Welch focused mainly on State witness Avinash Baboolal, who claimed that Chatoo, Mitchell and Luke diverted into an abandoned sugarcane field, which bounds their community, when they were on their way to fish by a river in March 2006.
“The police dropped the ball by letting Avinash go. The villagers who burned down Avinash’s house had far better instincts than the police,” Welch said.
Welch focused on the fact that while Mitchell’s semen was found on Luke’s underwear, an unknown profile not linked to his client was found on intimate swabs taken during Luke’s autopsy and on the sugarcane stalk that was used to sodomise him.
Welch questioned why prosecutors chose not to take a DNA sample from Baboolal when the evidence collected in the case underwent DNA testing shortly before the trial commenced.
“If his (Chatoo) DNA was found on the cane stalk the prosecution would be singing in a chorus,” Welch said.
He suggested that Baboolal could have easily fabricated his claims against Chatoo and Mitchell, as he was present and responsible.
“If you are involved in the crime you can easily create a story based on what you know and did,” Welch said.
He noted that the evidence of Arvis Pradeep, another teenage neighbour who went on the fishing trip and also claimed that he saw the duo go into the field with Luke, did not bolster the case, as he (Pradeep) contradicted Baboolal.
Pradeep claimed that the detour into the field took place when they were returning from fishing, while Baboolal claimed it occurred before and Mitchell and Luke did not rejoin them.
“Mr Jekyll and Mr Lie that is what Avinash is,” Welch said.
Welch pointed to the fact that after they returned to the village, Baboolal had asked Pradeep to go back through the sugarcane field. Baboolal also admitted that he assisted residents in searching the area when Luke was reported missing, but did not take residents to the area where he later claimed that Luke went with the duo.
“He tried to throw everybody off the scent. That alone should leave you with doubt,” Welch said.
Welch also called on Justice Ramsumair-Hinds to believe his client’s claim that he was coerced into giving a videotaped interview, in which he confirmed aspects of Baboolal’s claims and confessed over his and Mitchell’s alleged roles in Luke’s murder.
In the interview, Chatoo claimed that he merely restrained Luke as Mitchell raped him and sodomised him with the stalk.
Welch claimed that Chatoo probably felt vulnerable and hopeless after being held by police for two days and being confronted by Baboolal’s claims and would have jumped at an opportunity to be freed.
“It is too stupid and silly to believe,” Welch said.
Referring to Chatoo’s claim in the interview that Mitchell, who was his brother’s stepson and was staying at his home, threatened to shoot him if he (Chatoo) did not have sex with him or put Luke in place for same, Welch said it was highly improbable, as Chatoo was older and could tell his parents.
He also questioned how Chatoo would have known Luke would have been outside his house when Baboolal invited him to go fishing.
“That statement does not accord with reality,” Welch said, as he suggested police sought to record Chatoo’s alleged confession to overcompensate for shortcomings in their investigation.
“It is time to bring this miscarriage of justice to an end. The conviction of this man will be unsafe and unreliable,” he added.
Luke, of Henry Street, Orange Valley Road in Couva, went missing on the evening of March 26, 2006 and his decomposing body was found two days later.
An autopsy revealed he died from internal injuries and bleeding arising out of being sodomised with cane stalk.
Chatoo, who was 16 at the time, and 13-year-old Mitchell were charged with the crime.
Mitchell is also being represented by Randall Raphael and Kirby Joseph, while Kelston Pope and Gabriel Hernandez are also representing Chatoo. Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal, Anju Bhola and Sophia Sandy-Smith are also prosecuting.
The trial is expected to resume tomorrow, when prosecutors will present their closing address. Justice Ramsumair-Hinds will then take two weeks to consider the case before she determines the duo’s guilt or innocence on July 23.