Barbados Today

The case in which Ryan Omar Samuel is charged with murdering Charley Dume at a City bar five years ago, continued today in the absence of the jury.

For the entire day, the No. 2 Supreme Court sat in voir dire [a case within a case] to conduct a preliminary examination of various prosecution witnesses prior to going before the jury.

The voir dire is expected to continue tomorrow morning for a shorter period following which the 12-member panel of jurors will be invited back into the court room for the trial.

The accused, who sat in the dock throughout the day’s proceedings, is charged with the shooting death of Dume on April 26, 2014 while at a bar on the corner of Wellington Street and Nelson Street.

The accused has already told the presiding judge Randall Worrell he did not commit the crime, but the prosecution is alleging otherwise.

While defence counsel Mohia Ma’at will try to protect his client’s presumed innocence, Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale must prove the Crown’s case beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Yesterday, a witness testified how he was in close proximity to a group of people, including a man holding a haversack to the front of his body with his hands inside, when he heard about eight shots even though he saw no gun.