For a third time since resuming almost two weeks ago, the trial of 12 men accused of murdering former Xtra Foods CEO Vindra Naipaul-Coolman has been interrupted again after a juror fell ill. The high-profile trial was due to resume before Justice Malcolm Holdip in the Port-of-Spain Second Assizes yesterday, but the hearing had to be cancelled after one of the five alternate jurors was reported ill.
Before adjourning the case to today, Holdip informed the remaining jurors and lawyers in the trial that the juror had not recovered from her illness, which prevented hearings of the case for two days last week. Since commencing in late March, State prosecutors have led evidence from approximately half of the 74 witnesses scheduled to testify. Most of the witnesses thus far have been police officers who participated in several raids of Upper La Puerta Avenue, a hillside community in Diego Martin, where Naipaul-Coolman was allegedly held captive for several days before being killed and dismembered.
Several of her relatives, including her husband Rennie Coolman and her daughter from a previous marriage Risha Ali, have also testified. The last witness to testify before the case was postponed last week was senior homicide detective Supt Jayson Forde, the police officer who interviewed two of the accused men—Devon Peters and Earl Trimmingham—months after Naipaul-Coolman was kidnapped from her Chaguanas home on December 19, 2006.
In his interview, almost a month after the businesswoman’s disappearance, Peters reportedly denied participating in the crime. Forde said the accused claimed he only read about the incident in the newspaper. Five months later, Peters’ neighbour Trimmingham, whose twin brother Marlon is also charged, allegedly confessed to his involvement in the crime.
According to notes from the interview, Trimmingham denied participating in the businesswoman’s kidnapping and eventual murder but admitted to assisting in digging a hole in a forested area of the community, which was used to temporarily bury Naipaul-Coolman’s body parts.
During his cross-examination of Forde last week, Trimmingham’s lawyer Colin Selvon claimed that his client was mistreated by police and was frustrated into implicating himself. Selvon claimed Trimmingham was denied his epilepsy medication and was kept in his underwear in a holding cell for almost three days before he asked to be interviewed.
Who’s in court
The 12 men before the jury and Justice Malcolm Holdip are Allan “Scanny” Martin, twin brothers Shervon and Devon Peters, siblings Keida and Jamille Garcia and their older brother Anthony Dwayne Gloster, brothers Marlon and Earl Trimmingham, Ronald Armstrong, Antonio Charles, Joel Fraser and Lyndon James. A 13th man, Raphael Williams, was charged with the crime but died in prison in 2011 of complications arising from sickle cell anaemia.
Legal team
Their legal team includes Ulric Skerritt, Joseph Pantor, Selwyn Mohammed, Lennox Sankersingh, Ian Brooks, Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Richard Valere, Kwesi Bekoe, Colin Selvon, Vince Charles, Christian Chandler, Delicia Helwig and Alexia Romero. The prosecution team includes Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Gilbert Peterson who are being assisted by senior state prosecutors Joy Balkaran and Kelly Thompson.