State closes case in attorney theft trial

Prosecutors have closed their case against an attorney accused of stealing more than $850 000 from a client, and the accused is expected to give his defence on Friday.

Hilary Jeffrey Nelson, 81 of Bagatelle Terrace, St James, has pleaded not guilty to stealing £347 560 (BDS$855 000) from Errol Hewitt between November 13, 2018 and March 4, 2019.  

Giving evidence in the No. 5 Supreme Court before Justice Pamela Beckles, the final witness for the prosecution, attorney Azaz Juman, told the court that he had been the attorney acting for a company which was the seller of a property at Battaleys Mews, St Peter, and had interacted with Nelson, who had been representing Hewitt, the buyer, at the time.  

He said that the company had agreed to accept an offer of US$450 000 (BDS$900 000) from Hewitt for the purchase of the property.  

On November 15, 2018, Juman said he received the agreement for the property’s sale along with a cheque for £17 850, equivalent to BDS$45 000, from Hewitt. On January 2, 2019, he received an email from Nelson with a proposed completion date of January 25 that same month.  

After outlining his receipt of correspondence from the Central Bank of Barbados and documents regarding the conveyance, Juman said that several emails were sent from his office to Nelson trying to reach him.  

Juman said that a notice of forfeiture was sent to Nelson on March 18, 2019.  

“We received the deposit and have not to date received the balance that would have been required to complete the transaction,” he said.  

The attorney testified that the transaction had been completed “after the parties agreed to extend the completion date to allow the purchaser to acquire mortgage financing.”  

The funds had not been received from the accused but through another party, Juman said. 

Acting Senior State Counsel Tito Holder and State Counsel Maya Kellman are the prosecutors, while attorney Daquane Nedd represents Nelson.

(JB)