| Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire yesterday upheld no case submissions by defence attorney Basil Williams and directed a mixed jury to return a not guilty verdict in the trial of two men accused of the 2004 murder of Odinga Bryan in Buxton.After six years behind bars,Atlanta Falcons Jersey, Trion Sumner and Squince McLennon are now free of the charge.However, while Sumner is now out of prison, McLennon still has to face another murder charge and will remain in prison.Justice George-Wiltshire concurred with the submissions of the Defence Counsel that the evidence of the prosecution’s main witness, Errol Abrams, was weak.Williams began his no case submission at the close of the prosecution’s case against the two defendants. He targeted the evidence of the state’s main witness Errol Abrams called ‘Dynamite’.Wiliiams argued that while Abrams claimed that he grew up in Buxton with the defendants, he had claimed in his statement to the police that he and the deceased were attacked by five unknown persons.The Defence Attorney pointed out that in a subsequent statement to the police the main witness did not identify the two defendants.According to Williams, Sumner was picked up by the police in connection with another murder, that of Ansel Melville but was charged the following day for Bryan’s murder.Williams argued that in light of this the prosecution’s case was weak and flawed and urged that the defendants had no case to answer.Following her ruling Justice George-Wiltshire made mention of the fact that the accused were in custody for six years in circumstances that did not add up.Earlier Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire had thrown out a caution statement purportedly made by the accused, and presented as evidence by the prosecution.Yesterday’s ruling brought to an end several weeks of legal arguments, which commenced earlier this year with Justice James Bovell-Drakes granting bail to Sumner.The Judge made the decision after the Director of Public Prosecution failed to honour a ruling to have the accused men brought before the high court at the commencement of the January assizes.This led to a bitter legal battle with the DPP, through attorney at law Anil Nandlall, moving to the court for a temporary injunction against Justice Bovell-Drakes’s decision to grant Sumner bail.Defence attorney Basil Williams then filed a motion seeking a permanent stay of the murder charge instituted against his client.He had contended that the men’s incarceration for six years without trial constituted a breach of their rights.At the commencement of the trial before Justice George-Wiltshire, the main witness who had given his evidence had to do so for a second time after a member of the jury belatedly informed the court that he was a schoolmate of one of the accused.At that stage the main witness was about to be cross-examined by the defence.This led to a new jury being empanelled.Meanwhile, Sumner who spoke to this newspaper via telephone from his home in Linden expressed great joy that the moment of freedom had arrived.“It was six years, not six days or six months. But I just had to wait for this moment,” he said.Sumner stated that although his stay in prison was hard, he gained a lot of knowledge while he was incarcerated.“The suffering is what no one would like but God kept me strong and I always had confidence in him,” Sumner said.He thanked his mother, Cheryl, and stepfather for the faith they showed in his innocence.Cheryl Sumner told this newspaper that she would like to express sincere thanks to attorney at law Basil Williams for the work he did to ensure that justice prevailed for her son. |
