The case of death row inmate, Mark Royden Williams, also known as Mark Durant and “Smallie” for killing two men during an armed robbery at a bar on Agriculture Road, Triumph, East Coast Demerara, began in 2007, on Monday morning.
Williams was jointly charged with Michael Caesar for the murders of Fazil Hakim called “Boyie” of Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara and Rajesh Singh of “Rabbit” of Martyr’s Ville, East Coast Demerara in a liquor bar in Lot 82, Agriculture Road, Triumph, Demerara East Coast in December 2007.
According to reports, on December 16, 2007 at about 21:00 hours, Hakim and Singh, along with another man, were drinking alcohol at a bar on Agriculture Road when the bar was stormed by armed men who held them at gun point. The robbers entered the bar and robbed the owner and another man before compensating for their escape. During the robbery they fired several rounds, shooting Hakim and Singh.
Appearing before Justice Sandil Kissoon at Demerara High Court on Monday, Williams pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. He is represented by Attorney-in-Law Nigel Hughes while the State is represented by prosecutor Lisa Cave. The matter was postponed until Wednesday.
Michael Caesar initially called “Capone” was initially charged with the capital offense of murder involving the same matter; however, he pleaded guilty to the lesser offense of manslaughter on July 2, 2020 when he appeared before Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall in the Demerara High Court.
Caesar was also charged with two charges of armed robbery committed on Juman and Ravindra Mookram in relation to the same incident, for which he also pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 36 years ‘imprisonment on each of the two manslaughter cases, and 30 years’ imprisonment on each of the two counts of armed robbery.
In February 2017, Williams was sentenced to death when a jury convicted him of eight murder charges in connection with the 2008 Bartica massacre that saw a dozen people, including three policemen, shot dead. He had since appealed against his conviction.
In 2013, Williams was acquitted after a 12-member jury acquitted him of the charges against him in connection with the 2008 Lusignan massacre, which saw the murders of 11 people, including five children. The matter was appealed all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) which upheld in 2018 Williams’s acquittal.
He was also acquitted in 2019, after a 12-member jury acquitted him of the 2007 murder of Cove and John, a Demerara East Coast resident, Kumar Singh, also known as “Mango Man”.
Williams had escaped from Georgetown Prison in July 2017 during a riot, believed to be the mastermind behind. He was nabbed three months later in Weldaad, West Coast Berbice on October 9, 2017 while traveling by public minibus.