Burglary accused walk free

Three men walked free of an burglary charge on Wednesday, nine years after first being brought before the court.

Richan Robert Walrond, of Back Ivy, St Michael; Jamal Raymond Ramon Taylor, of Ellerton Housing Area, St George and; Prince Hugh Browne, of Buttals Tenantry, St George no longer have a case to answer before the High Court.

The trio had been accused of entering Jenny’s Mini Mart as trespassers on February 25, 2012 with a firearm and stealing $1 000 cash belonging to Albert Holder and $20 belonging to David Howell.

But with Holder, the chief complainant in the matter, being deceased and the other two witnesses unwilling to give evidence, the case could go no further.

On Wednesday, one of the witnesses told Justice Carlisle Greaves that he was “not interested at all” and confirmed that he was not forced, intimated, or threatened to come to that decision.

Attorney for the state, Neville Watson said in light of what the witness had told the court, “it will be an exercise in futility to try and prosecute the matter”.

“It would go nowhere. In those circumstances, we are asking that this matter be dismissed for want of prosecution,” he added.

Justice Greaves then ordered that the indictment against the accused be dismissed “for want of prosecution and lack of evidence and that the defendants be all discharged”.

He, however, offered some advice to the trio.

“I hope that each of you . . . take this opportunity to live right and not find yourselves before the court. It will not always end like this. I am not saying that you are guilty of anything,” the judge, who presides over the No. 3 Supreme Court, said during the sitting which was done via Zoom.

Taylor was represented by attorney-at-law Angella Mitchell-Gittens, while Browne had Marlon Gordon as defence counsel.