Murder trial ends in hung jury

After almost three hours of deliberation, a jury could not decide whether Trasuon Alleyne was guilty of murdering Rondell Alexander on December 13, 2019.

Alleyne, 26, of Morris Gap, Westbury, St Michael had pleaded not guilty to the charge. He had been jointly charged with Shane Dawson of 5th Avenue Peterkin, Bank Hall, St Michael, but a few days after the trial began, Dawson threw in the towel and admitted to the murder. He was remanded to Dodds Prison and the trial continued with Alleyne maintaining his innocence.

On Tuesday, after Justice Carlisle Greaves delivered his summation, the matter was turned over to the 11-member jury – one juror was previously excused. However, soon before the allotted time for their discussions expired, the foreman told the court they could not agree on a verdict and a hung jury was declared.

Principal State Counsel Neville Watson and State Counsel Treann Knight were the prosecutors in the matter while King’s Counsel Michael Lashley was Alleyne’s attorney.

During the trial, the court heard Alleyne’s statement that on the day of the alleged incident, he went on the block after getting home from work and limed with several other men until dark. Later that night, Dawson told him to come and “make a short turn” with him but did not say where he was going. The two walked along several roads before heading into “the small gap”. 

“We did reach de top of de gap. I realise he look out the gap and then I realised he was up to something. I told him I was going back down the gap that we came up and he told me ‘No’, as I continued to walk away from him. As I approach back to the bottom of the gap, he started firing gunshots towards the bar as I continue to run away. I continued running down the gap till I found my way home,” the statement added.