Housemother of the Shaheed Boys' Orphanage, Bibi Naas Hakim, testified yesterday that based on the instructions of murder accused Nazir Hamid, who was her boss in December 2002, she had falsely told police that murder victim Rahim Abdool had run away from the institution.
Hamid and Yusuf 'Kenneth'Rahman are accused of killing Abdool between December 16 and 17, 2002 and are presently on trial for murder before Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh.
The court was told by Hakim that she had last seen Abdool alive on December 16, 2002, when he and the other residents of the orphanage had their morning bath and later ate their breakfast.
The housemother said Abdool and another resident, Ramo Duke, had left the institution that morning and had gone to the K. Rahaman and Sons store located at Russell and Evans Streets, Charlestown. She said she had made telephone contact with Rahman [the number two accused] after neither Abdool nor Duke had returned by 5:30 that afternoon for the prayer session.
Hakim said Rahman had told her at that time, which she recalled was approximately 7:30 pm, that both Abdool and Duke were packing some items and that Rahman had given her the same response when she had telephoned again at about 9 pm.
But one hour later, according to Hakim, she had received a telephone call from Hamid, who told her "...Aunty Bibi, Rahim run away from the store this morning..."
She said Hamid also told her to go to the Kitty police station the following day and report that Hamid had run away from the orphanage. Hakim testified further that Hamid had also told her that if the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security were to get involved, he could face the problem [of being accused of indulging in] child labour.
The housemother told the court that she had carried out Hamid's instructions and had reported to police the following day [December 17, 2002] that Abdool had run away from the orphanage. Hakim said Duke, the other resident who had left the orphanage in Abdool's company the previous day, had returned at 5:30 pm on December 17 and that shortly after the incident, Duke had been removed from the orphanage by attorney-at-law Priya Manickchand.
In reply to questions put to her by defence lawyer Hukumchand during cross-examination, Hakim admitted that what she had told police was entirely different to her evidence yesterday and during the preliminary inquiry (PI) in the Magistrate's Court.
Hakim, however, insisted that she had simply been following Hamid's instructions when she had lied to police. She said she regretted lying after she had discovered that Abdool was dead.
Hakim intimated that after she had learned of Abdool's death, she had realised that she had made a terrible mistake by lying to police on Hamid's instructions and had then decided to tell the truth.
She said her testimony yesterday and the evidence that she had given in the Magistrate's Court is what had actually happened but she was unable to provide a reason for continuing to lie to police in separate statements some 14 days after Abdool's disappearance.
Hakim told the court that she first became aware that Abdool had died after someone from Stabroek News visited the orphanage for an interview. Further, that afterward, she had gone to the Lyken's Funeral Home and had been shown the body of a young male whom she did not recognise.
"I return to the police [at the Kitty police station] and tell them that [the body at Lyken's] is not Rahim..."
But Hukumchand pointed out that in a statement given to police at Sparendaam on December 29, 2002, Hakim had said that she had gone to the Lyken's Funeral Home and identified the body of a young male there as that of Abdool because of a mark on his nose and lip.
Hakim strenuously objected to having said this although she admitted that she had been very confused at the time she gave the statement.
The court also heard that Hakim is a staunch follower of the Muslim religion and a member of the United Sad'r Islamic Anjuman (USIA) but was unable to say whether there were any ongoing problems between the members of the latter organisation and members of the Central Islamic Organisation (CIOG).
She agreed that Hamid had been the vice-president of the USIA until his incarceration when an interim committee replaced the management team of which he had been a part.
Hukumchand also reminded Hakim that she had told police in a statement taken on December 30, 2002, that she had failed to report him [Abdool] missing because she had thought that he might have gone to visit a friend.
Acknowledging that she had indeed told this to the police as the statement had disclosed, Hakim noted that what she had said in that statement was false and reflected the position she had been instructed by Hamid to take.
She said she had personally searched for Abdool and denied that she had changed her statement after Minister of Human Services and Social Security, Bibi Shadick, had visited the store. Hakim maintained that she had only changed her story after she had become aware that Abdool had died.
Hakim told the court she has been the housemother at the institution for around 20 years, and had nurtured Rahman as a mother would a son since he was aged 4 or 5 years old. Additionally, she feels obligated to the boys under her care at the institution and would not leave the job for this reason.
State Counsel Simone Bullen is presenting the prosecution's case.