Hearings of the trial of 12 men accused of murdering former Xtra Foods chief executive officer Vindra Naipaul-Coolman have been adjourned to next year. Although hearings in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court were due to take place up until the start of the Judiciary’s annual vacation on Thursday, presiding Judge Malcom Holdip yesterday informed attorneys that the schedule would have to be abandoned to accommodate a juror who has university examinations this week.
Since the trial began in late March, prosecutors have called 50 of the 74 witnesses that are expected to testify in the trial. The latest witness to give evidence was Insp Suzette Martin, the police officer who mainly interacted with the State’s main witness Keon Gloster during a two-month period in 2007, in which he gave police a series of statements implicating the accused men. He is yet to testify and is expected to do so closer to the end of the trial.
Gloster, who was 17 at the time, is related to several of the accused, who are all from Upper La Puerta Avenue, Diego Martin. Prosecutors are contending that Naipaul-Coolman was held captive in a house in the community for one week after she was kidnapped from her Chaguanas home on December 19, 2006, before she was eventually killed an her body disposed of.
During her testimony on Monday, Martin denied allegations that Gloster was beaten by police before he decided to co-operate with them. “First and foremost homicide officers don’t beat people,” Martin said firmly as she responded to an allegations that Gloster was repeatedly kicked in the stomach by the police.
Besides the beating allegation, Martin was also called upon to answer allegations that Gloster was denied meals and his epilepsy medication during his detention in police custody. Defence attorneys will complete their cross-examination of Martin when the trial resumes on January 6.