BROOKLYN, NY - A 57-year-old Trinidadian immigrant on Monday turned into a rocky witness for federal prosecutors, after first admitting he had been drinking before coming to court and later failing to identify the man who allegedly took out a hit on his life.
According to a Hardbeatnews report yesterday, John Narinesingh, a Harlem vagrant, was called by prosecutors to testify in the trial of two Guyanese men in a stunning insurance for murder scheme.
Narinesingh was allegedly the next victim of Richard James, who is accused of taking out $250,000 in fraudulent policies on the Trini migrant’s life before trying to have him killed.
But when asked if James was in the courtroom Monday, Narinesingh first put on his glasses, then climbed down from the witness stand and paced around before declaring, "Richard James is not here."
The mistake came moments after Narinesingh, under oath, testified that he downs a pint of vodka a day, and that he had been drinking shortly before an investigator escorted him to court. But under cross-examination by defence attorneys, he recanted, insisting he hadn't had a drink for at least a day.
Narinesingh, however, testified that he had met James once in passing before the insurance agent and another man stopped by twice to see him in 2002 in Harlem. Prosecutors last week played an audio tape in which James is alleged to have pinpointed the Trini migrant as the next hit.
"Complete bum - if you look at him, you will laugh," James is heard saying. "I will give you 25 grand." His offer was allegedly made to Derrick Hassan, a government informant posing as hit man as part of a sting operation.
Narinesingh also denied he had signed off on three insurance policies and testified that his signature had been forged. He also denied he had assets worth $250,000.
James is accused of orchestrating two of the deaths in Guyana while alleged co-conspirator, Ronald Mallay, is accused of taking part in four killings: two in Guyana and two in New York City in a bid to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars from life insurance policies they had taken out of the unsuspecting victims. They both face the death penalty if convicted.
Among the murdered, according to prosecutors, was 42-year-old Basdeo Somaipersaud, who was found dead in 1998. Subsequent autopsy results showed the man died from lethal doses of chlorpromazine that was injected into his system.
Court papers allege $84,000 was collected from the death of Somaipersaud and investigators claim the MetLife pay out was secretly channelled back to James.
Investigators say the murder-for-profit scheme mostly victimised alcoholics like Somaipersaud.
In another case, $300,000 was collected from the death of Mallay's own nephew in Guyana, Hardeo Sewnanan. Sewnanan was poisoned in June 1999. He died after drinking what investigators believe was alcohol and ammonia during a dinner with Mallay at a restaurant in Berbice.
The other two victims are allegedly Vern `Dilly'' Peter, the husband of an accused co-conspirator, and Alfred Gobin.
James’ defence attorney said forensic evidence was inconclusive on the cause of death of the two poison victims who his client is alleged to have killed. Zissou also bashed the forensic findings in Guyana saying the primitive level of the science prevented any meaningful finding of the cause of death for Sewnanan.
Mallay’s defending attorney, Kenneth Kaplan, for his part has slammed the prosecution witnesses as "malodorous miscreants" who made deals to avoid prison time.
MetLife discovered the scheme after noticing that 21 death claims had been filed from policies written by James within a few years. The rate "was approximately 318 per cent higher than expected (and) ... a large number of deaths were violent or under unusual circumstances," court papers said.
MetLife fired James in July 2000 and notified authorities. He was subsequently put under surveillance.
In 2002, investigators caught him on audiotape trying to pay an informant $25,000 to kill another victim with a mix of alcohol and drugs to collect insurance, court papers said. Several of the witnesses in the Sewnanan case have been killed or gone missing.