-police failed to make out prima facie case
MAHAICA magistrate Hemant Ramdhanie yesterday accepted a no-case submission from defence counsel Jerome Khan and freed murder accused Bernstein James on a charge of murder. This happened at the Mahaica Magistrate’s Court where the only evidence against the accused, a confession statement, was thrown out by the magistrate after answers to cross-examination by the lawyer disclosed that the statement was not obtained in accordance with the judge’s rules.
James, 29, was accused in the New Year’s Day murder of his brother Floyd James,24, of Cuthbert Mission, Mahaica Creek, on January 1, 2009.
The preliminary inquiry which lasted almost 18 months revealed that the only police evidence against him was a caution statement extracted from the accused while in police custody.
Defence counsel Mr. Jerome Khan successfully argued that the caution statement ought not to be accepted in evidence as the circumstances under which it was taken could not safely be regarded as free and voluntary.
The defendant was kept in custody for a considerable period of time after which a statement was prepared and given to the accused to sign, it was said.
The magistrate upheld the defence counsel’s submission after agreeing that there was no case for the accused to answer.
Magistrate Ramdhanie in his ruling said that the defence was able to discredit all evidence presented by the prosecution which could not present any tangible evidence to reasonably convince any tribunal of fact that the accused was guilty as charged.
The charge was based, counsel told the court, on hearsay evidence, first reported by the captain of the village, that the death of Floyd James was the result of a fight between the two brothers, but the post mortem examination revealed that the cause of death was due to asphyxiation due to drowning.