Cop accused of wife’s murderBy RALPH BANWARIE Wednesday, September 23 2009
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Justice seekers: Policemen keep a crowd behind barriers as they waited for the appearance of murder accused PC Sunil Akaloo and Marlon Lee in Sangre G...
An angry crowd jeered police constable Sunil Akaloo as he and his spiritual advisor were taken yesterday to the Sangre Grande Magistrate’s Court on the charge of murder. The victim is Akaloo’s wife Bhasmat Seemungal-Akaloo.
Scores of onlookers stood behind police barriers from as early as 7 am to see the policeman and his co-accused Marlon Lee as they were escorted from the Sangre Grande Police Station across the street to the court.
They waited for almost three hours, as Akaloo, 39, and Lee, 40, were led in handcuffs from the station to the court by ASP Johnny Abraham and Insp Stanley Ramdeen at about 10.30 am.
Dressed in a light blue, long-sleeved shirt, Akaloo, an officer of the Police Finance Branch, at first kept calm as he faced the hostile crowd.
As the crowd’s tongue-lashing got harsher, Akaloo responded, shouting obscenities but ASP Abraham restrained him.
One man’s cry, “All wickedness must come to an end”, agitated Lee.
Police officers, led by ASP Brebnor and Insp Sankar, kept the crowd at bay behind the barriers during the men’s short walk to the court where they appeared before Magistrate Cheron Raphael. They were not called on to enter a plea as the charge is for an indictable offence. The men were charged by Sgt Beverley Paul. Attorney Devish Maharaj represented Akaloo and Lee is the client of Indar Jagroo.
The matter was adjourned to October 2. Inside the courtroom , relatives of the murder victim sat silently and observed the five-minute hearing during which the crowd outside never left.
As the two murder accused were taken back to the police station, the crowd jeered them again. Akaloo and Lee were charged on Saturday with the murder of Seemungal-Akaloo, a schoolteacher of Manzanilla High School, on the instruction of Acting DPP Roger Gaspard.
Lee was arrested after police officers raided his home in Belmont and found a quantity of items which investigators said belonged to the victim.
Akaloo had been in custody since last Tuesday.
Seemungal-Akaloo, a mother of one, was abducted from her home at Guaico/Tamana Road, Sangre Grande last Tuesday after what police described as a fake robbery. Her body was found in bushes at San Louis Road, Guaico, a few miles from her home. An autopsy revealed she was stabbed 20 times and her throat was slit.
She was laid to rest last Friday.
