Stabroek News
March 7, 2001

Guyana Chronicle reporter, Sharon Lall - charged with two counts of attempted murder - was yesterday granted $150,000 bail by Justice Oswell Legall.

At around 1330 hrs yesterday afternoon, her lawyer, Khemraj Ramjattan, said that they were in the process of securing a court order so that she could have been released before the day ended.

On Monday at the Vreed-en-Hoop Magistrate's Court, Magistrate Oscar Parvatan refused the journalist her pre-trial freedom despite submissions by her attorney that she was suffering from depression and could possibly be suicidal.

But after taking a look at the medical report, Legall agreed with Ramjattan's application that although the offences allegedly committed were serious, they were also bailable. Moreover, he acknowledged the attorney's concerns for his client's life should she remain in custody.

Lall was taken into police custody on the evening of January 29, after she reportedly tried to take the life of Yacoob Mazaharally alias 'Joey' and another passenger, while the Cessna 182 aircraft Mazaharally was piloting was over the Atlantic Ocean.

Reports stated that the reporter boarded the plane with a knife concealed in a newspaper and some 15 minutes into the flight pulled it out and allegedly stabbed him behind his neck. Vidya Gooray, one of the two passengers aboard the four-seater aircraft, intervened and attempted to subdue Lall.

She was also injured. During this commotion, Mazaharally safely returned the aircraft to the Ogle Airstrip where he disembarked and Lall was apprehended by Air Services' staff.

Before her Monday court appearance, the 21-year-old accused was housed at the Psychiatric Ward of the Georgetown Public Hospital, under police surveillance.

She had never appeared in court before Monday.