Guyana Chronicle
March 27, 2001

THE start of the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the attempted murder charge that followed the mid-air stabbing of pilot Yacoob Mazaharally was postponed once again, yesterday.

The proceedings were stalled this time because of the absence of the flyer himself.

Magistrate Oscar Parvatan was told the Air Services Limited (ASL) aviator has left the country to seek further medical attention.

After hearing the Police Prosecutor, Inspector Christopher Griffith, Mr Parvatan, sitting at Vreed-en-Hoop Court in West Demerara Magisterial District, adjourned the case until May 11.

The accused, Chronicle Reporter Sharon Lall, 21, of Railway Line, Kitty, Georgetown, was present, but without counsel, when the adjournment was taken.

Despite the presence of three other witnesses, Magistrate Parvatan said he was not starting the PI because Police are taken up with duties elsewhere since the recent elections.

Lall is charged with attempting to kill Mazaharally and Vidya Gooray, who was also a passenger aboard the Cessna four-seater aircraft on which they were destined for Spring Garden, Essequibo Coast, last January 29. Lall is on $150,000 bail.