A MAN accused of murdering a father-of-two has declined the opportunity to give evidence in his trial.
Eugert Merizaj is accused of helping to organise the killing of Hemawand Ali Hussein by persuading him to a visit a house in the North East to look at a potential drug cannabis farm site.
The 40-year-old was blasted in the head at point blank range with a sawn-off shotgun within minutes of stepping into the house on Charterhouse Street, Hartlepool, in September 2019.
Teesside Crown Court heard how members of the ‘killing team’ had spent days planning the alleged murder as detectives were able to trace their movements between London, Bolton, and Sheffield.
The judge, Honourable Mr Justice Nicholas Lavender QC, explained to the jury that the defendant had decided not to give evidence.
He said: “He has a perfect right not to give evidence and to require the prosecution to prove its case. You cannot jump to the conclusion that his silence proves the case against him – it does not. The burden remains on the Crown to prove its case so that you are sure.
“However, his silence at trial is relevant to you in two respects. First, there has been no evidence from him in the witness box capable of contradicting or undermining the evidence called by the Crown.
“Secondly, his decision not to give evidence, may in your view give weight to the Crown’s case against him.”
Earlier in the trial, the prosecution barrister told the jury that three other men had already been found guilty of manslaughter at an earlier trial but reminded members to make a decision on only the evidence they hear during the trial.
Noza Saffari, 39, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 15 years after he was convicted of manslaughter and cleared of murder.
Qazim Marku, 25, of Maxwell Road, West Drayton, in London, Dorian Pirija, 33, of Trillo Avenue, Bolton, each got 19 years after they were also found guilty of manslaughter and cleared of murder.
A fourth man, Anxelo Xhaferi, was cleared of both charges.
Francis Fitzgibbon QC, prosecuting, said a trawl through mobile phones belonging to Merizaj and his associates placed them in the area at the time of the killing and CCTV footage captured them running away from the scene just minutes after the fatal shot was fired.
He told jurors that Merizaj played a key role in getting the shotgun into the terraced property the day before the alleged murder and is the days leading up to it.
Mr Fitzgibbon said other members of the gang have still not been traced.
Merizaj, of Montague Street, Leicester, denies murder.
The prosecution’s closing speech is underway and the defence is expected to give its closing statement tomorrow (Thursday, April 7) before the jury can retire to consider its verdict.
The trial continues.
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