A mixed jury trying Leonard Allicock for the murder of Wendell Tappin at the Demerara Assizes yesterday returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty.

Tappin was fatally stabbed in Albouystown on December 31st 2009.
Madam Justice Diana Insanally, the presiding judge, discharged the accused.
The prosecution, led by Attorney-at-Law Miss M. Thompson, had called witnesses to support that the accused had committed the offence on December 31st 2009.
But prosecution witness Detective Corporal Osmond Semple, who it is said had charged the accused, said under cross-examination by defence counsel, Attorney-at-Law Mr. Euclin Gomes, that “sometimes he was doubtful whether the accused was the person he instituted the charge against.
Questioned further, Semple, who admitted assisting with the investigations while he was attached to the Ruimveldt Police Station, said that what caused the doubt in his mind was the resemblance.

(By George Barclay)