A woman from La Romain, accused of enlisting a co-worker to kill her abusive husband, and a man from Debe, accused of stabbing his father to death in an argument, have been each released on $200,000 bail.
After both spending almost 16 years on remand, Rasha Sobrian, 47, of Rambert Village, La Romain, and 39-year-old Christopher Bissoo were granted bail by High Court Judge Gillian Scotland, on Monday morning.
In granting them bail, Justice Scotland considered their lengthy period on remand awaiting trial and that they had a strong possibility of being convicted of the lesser offence of manslaughter based on the evidence against them.
Sobrian and her former co-worker are accused of murdering her husband, Lester, on March 15, 2008.
The co-worker allegedly invited Sobrian’s husband to accompany him to a bar in Fyzabad to have some drinks and he agreed.
While at the bar, Lester reportedly made a series of racist remarks towards his wife’s co-worker and the duo had a brief scuffle.
They continued drinking and eventually left together.
Hours later, Lester’s body was found in the road near the bar.
When he was arrested by police, Sobrian’s co-worker claimed that while he and a heavily intoxicated Lester were walking to his car, Lester repeated the racist remarks leading to another scuffle.
During the exchange, he slit Lester’s throat with a knife.
He admitted that he took Lester’s wallet and threw it away along with the knife on his way home.
He also claimed that while dropping Sobrian home the previous evening, she allegedly told him about the physical abuse she suffered from her husband and requested his assistance in addressing the situation.
In her bail application, Sobrian’s lawyer Michelle Ali, of the Public Defenders’ Department, noted that her client, who was a janitor before being charged, currently suffers from several medical conditions including coronary artery disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, arthritis and hypertension.
She also noted that Sobrian would reside at the Barrackpore home of her daughter from a previous relationship until her case comes up for trial on March 1, next year.
As part of her bail conditions, Sobrian was ordered to have no contact with any witnesses in the case and to report to the Barrackpore Police Station once weekly until her case is determined.
Justice Scotland ordered that she not be issued a passport.
Man gets bail after
allegedly stabbing dad
18 times, killing him
Regarding Bissoo, he is accused of murdering his father Glen on June 8, 2008.
The incident occurred at a house they shared in Debe.
Neighbours claimed that they heard the relatives quarrelling around midday but admitted that they did not intervene as such disputes were frequent with the relatives regularly threatening to kill each other.
Police were summoned after Bissoo allegedly visited a neighbour’s home and told them that he stabbed his father in their scuffle.
A post-mortem revealed that his father had been stabbed 18 times in his chest.
In applying for bail for Bissoo, Ali noted that there was no possibility of him threatening eyewitnesses as there was none in the case.
Noting that Bissoo cooperated with investigators after the incident, she stated that he did not have a propensity to abscond if granted bail before a trial, which is yet to be set before a judge.
As part of his bail conditions, Bissoo was ordered to reside at his family’s home in Debe until his case is determined and report to police once a week until then.
Sobrian and Bissoo were also represented by Shaunelle Hamilton. Prosecutor Rhea Libert represented the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in both bail applications.