The remaining defendant in the preliminary inquiry into the murder of cattle farmer Shafeek Bacchus, ex-policeman Shawn Hinds, was further remanded to prison yesterday after State Counsel Simone Morris reported sick.
Hinds would have to wait until Monday before his fate is known since Morris, who presented the prosecution's case, tendered a medical certificate to Magistrate Adrian Thompson through State Counsel, Candace Raphael when the matter came up in Court Five of the Georgetown Magistrate's Court.
Morris was expected to respond to no-case submissions by Hinds' attorney, Compton Richardson and Thompson was then expected to rule on whether Hinds ought to be committed to stand trial in the High Court for Bacchus' murder.
Funeral Parlour owner and businessman, Ashton King, was on Thursday freed of the capitol offence after Thompson upheld no-case submissions presented by his attorney-at-law, Vic Puran.
Hinds, King and Mark Thomas also known as 'Kerzorkee' were accused of gunning down Bacchus as he sat outside his Princes Street home on January 5, 2004. However, Hinds is the only one left facing the charge. Thomas died under mysterious circumstances at the Georgetown Public Hospital in February.
King, co-owner of the A&D Funeral Home and Parlour was released following arguments by his lawyer that the prosecution had failed to present a prima facie case against his client. He was incarcerated for over five months.
The case into the murder of Shafeek Bacchus began on May 4 before Chief Magistrate Juliet Holder-Allen despite many delays and obstructions including two bomb hoaxes. Holder-Allen however withdrew from it on June 23 because of allegations made on TV by the brother of Shafeek Bacchus, George Bacchus that she was on a `hit' list. George Bacchus was murdered shortly after. He had been expected to testify in the inquiry into his brother's murder but never got the chance to. The inquiry into the death of Shafeek Bacchus started afresh on June 28, before Magistrate Thompson.