Three men freed of 2012 murder at retrial

Three men who had their original murder conviction overturned and a new trial ordered, were freed today after the trial Judge ordered the jury to return a not-guilty verdict.

The Judge found several discrepancies in the prosecution’s case.

The three men Ray Yokum, Steffon Campbel and Faisal Moore, were initially sentenced to 80 years in jail when their first trial ended with a guilty verdict from the jury six years ago. However, when the case was appealed, the Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for men.

The three were accused of killing Glen Xavier in 2012 during a robbery at the Cornbread Mini Mart located on D’Urban Street, in Georgetown.

The retrial concluded today, with High Court Judge Simone Morris-Ramlall, instructing the jury to return a not guilty verdict for all three of the accused, on the grounds that the prosecution failed to established that the man fatally shot during the course of the robbery, was the same person who was taken to the hospital, and subsequently pronounced dead.

“There is no evidence of an essential element in the case of murder, which these accused persons face. There is no admissible evidence of death of the person named in the indictment,” the Judge ruled.

The Judge said it was an issue of law and not one for the jury, and as such, the case was withdrawn from the jury, and the jurors were instructed to return the not guilty verdict for all three of the accused.

In an attempt to prove its case, the State called Randolph Nedd, who was a cllose friend of the murder victim. The man testified that he took his injured friend to the Georgetown Public Hospital on the night of May 7, 2012. According to the witness, he handed his friend over to the hospital staff.

However, the Judge said the witness failed to provide a description of his friend or even information about his ethnicity. The Judge also said that Police Officer Winston Singh, who was also called by the Prosecution to testify, fell short in providing critical information.

Singh, while on duty on the night of May 7, 2012, visited the Georgetown Public Hospital, and it was there that Xavier’s body was shown to him.

However, the Judge sad Singh did not indicate could not indicate who pointed the body out to him.

“Singh also did not suggest that he knew Glenn Xavier and he provided no description of the person he saw,” the High Court Judge said. language aware and he provided no description of the person he saw.

“This court observes that there is no nexus between the person that Nedd took to the hospital and the man that Singh said that he saw there with an injury on the left arm area. Nedd did not describe any injury that he saw whether by location of the body or otherwise,” Justice Morris-Ramlall explained.

The prosecution had also relied on the testimony of Dr Nehaul Singh, who, had conducted a post mortem examination on the body of a deceased, however, the Judge said his testimony regarding the identification of the body is inadmissible.