BUSINESSMAN Keith “General” Ferrier, accused of setting fire to the Ministry of Health building on Brickdam in 2009, had the charge against him dismissed on Tuesday after the prosecution failed to prove its case when the matter was called before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan.The charge against Ferrier had stated that between July 16 and July 17, 2009, at Brickdam, he unlawfully and maliciously set fire to the building, property of the state.

After almost three months on trial, Ferrier had his lawyer, Patrice Henry, contend that the prosecution had no case or evidence against his client.
The magistrate upheld a no-case submission, agreeing that a prima facie case had not been made out against the businessman because the prosecution witnesses had no credibility.

Having fled the jurisdiction in 2009 and being on the run for almost seven years, Ferrier was, in March 2016, apprehended and charged when he returned from neighbouring Venezuela, where he had been hiding for several years. He was, however, placed on $350,000 bail during the trial.

In 2013, Colin Jones and his co-conspirator Clayton Westford were both sentenced to 60 months’ imprisonment after being found guilty of deliberately setting the fire that destroyed the building. Ferrier was believed to have been the mastermind behind the attack.

The building was said to be more than one hundred years old, and had been the original Queen’s College (QC) building before it was converted by Government into the Ministry of Health in the 1950s.