THE remaining accused in the Shafeek Bacchus murder case, ex-policeman Shawn Hinds was yesterday committed to stand jury trial for the capital offence.
Magistrate Adrian Thompson, who signed the committal warrant, ruled that the Prosecution had led enough evidence to establish a prima facie case against the remanded prisoner and bound him over to the October criminal sessions of the Demerara Assizes.
Hinds was one of three men charged with the crime, the others being A&D Funeral Parlour part owner Ashton King, who was freed earlier this month and Mark Thomas alias 'Kerzorkee', who died under mysterious circumstances in Georgetown Public Hospital before the charge was read to him in Court.
Defence Counsel for Hinds, Mr Compton Richardson yesterday rebutted arguments in reply to State Counsel Simone Morris, from the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), before the ruling that was given after a half an hour adjournment.
During yesterday's pre-trial proceedings, Hinds maintained his innocence in a statement from the dock.
The accused said he was nowhere near the crime scene on the night the victim was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his Princes Street, Georgetown home last January 5.
Declaring that he knew nothing about it, Hinds said he gave an alibi to Police Sergeant Fraser after his arrest and the latter told him he would check out his story.
According to Hinds, Fraser later informed him that he had checked and everything was okay.
Richardson submitted that the testimony adduced was very poor, including that about the identification parade but Morris insisted it was sufficient for Hinds to be tried in the High Court.
Magistrate Thompson agreed that more evidence could have been presented but he overruled the Defence no-case submissions.
Ten witnesses had given depositions in this second PI which followed the first that was aborted when Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen recused herself from it after the now dead self-confessed informant of the so-called death squad, George Bacchus, brother of Shafeek Bacchus, said she was on the hit list of the alleged phantom gang.