Tears and smiles clashed in an atmosphere characterized by sadness and joy as two of the five men who went on trial for the armed robbery of Land Court Judge, Nicola Pierre and her husband last July, were set free.

Premnauth Samaroo and Anthony David bolted from the courtroom along with smiling relatives immediately after Magistrate Zamilla Ally-Seepaul handed down her not guilty verdict and demanded that their cuffs be removed.

However, the three others remained handcuffed and were escorted from the courtroom by the police after they were found guilty of two counts of robbery under arms and two counts of felonious wounding committed on Pierre and her husband.

Those found guilty are 22-year-old Damion Millington, 18-year-old Nicholas Narine and 22-year-old Warren Mckenzie.

The relatives of those found guilty remained in the courtyard pondering their next move and some were even moved to tears. The three who were found guilty will return to court on June 23 for sentencing.

The Judge and her husband were present in Court for the verdict but showed little emotions. They were seen embracing persons and shared brief smiles after the verdict was read.

Magistrate Ally-Seepaul recounted the facts presented to the court and reminded that the Judge had suffered a fractured jaw while her husband, Mohamed Chand suffered injuries to one of his eyes.

The Magistrate explained that she could not rely on the identification of Samaroo by a security guard in the area since the incident happened at night and the two were approximately 80 feet apart. She also said that she could not rely on the oral statement the police claimed, it had received from David.

One of the freed men and a relative leaving the courthouse

The Magistrate said it would be dangerous for her to rely on the evidence that was put forward for these two accused to determine guilt and was not satisfied that there was enough evidence to support the charges brought against them.

She was however convinced, based on identification by the victims among other things, that there was enough evidence to convict the other three men.

The victims were robbed of several gold rings, diamond jewellery, a clump of gold, and a quantity of gem stones, among other items, all totaling about $1M.

Some of the items were retrieved.

The men had tied up the Judge’s security guard and entered the home through a little window soon after they had retired to bed on the night of July 9, 2015. (by Kurt Campbell)

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