A MIXED Berbice Assizes jury, after deliberating about two hours, returned a not guilty verdict, last week Tuesday, in favour of Sean Benjamin alias ‘Black Boy’, the second accused in the Rosignol murder case.

Benjamin had faced a joint indictment with Mark Massiah who was previously freed of unlawfully killing dreadlocked Ian Adonis called ‘Saffo’, who suffered head injuries that resulted in his death on August 29, 2007.
Following the unanimous decision, Justice Roxanne George described the case as a complicated one and questioned whether the issue should have been sent for deliberation by the jurors.
Addressing the discharged man, the judge told him: “Mr. Benjamin, the jury has found you not guilty. You are free to go.”
Defence Counsel Raymond Ali, in his address, had urged the twelve jurors to revisit the statement of Massiah who painted Adonis as a violent man.
The lawyer noted that the case turned on the evidence of Leslyn Nightingale known as ‘Black Bird’, who was the prosecution eyewitness to the crime allegedly committed by Benjamin.
Ali said the allegation against Benjamin was as a result of Nightingale being referred to as ‘Black Bird’ by ‘Black Boy’.
The then eighteen-year-old was definitely not pleased with being referred to as a ‘Black Bird’, counsel emphasised.
“She, the eyewitness is a prolific liar. Was she really there?” he questioned.
Ali continued: “This is the era of the mobile phones, yet she told no one. This witness waited until a second blow was given an hour later, then she went home and fell asleep. She told no one. According to her, the first lash was given at 23:15 hrs and the second an hour later.”

British accent
Ali, who lived abroad for many years, faced the challenge of being clearly understood by Guyanese, due to his heavy British accent. However, he made a painstaking effort in clarifying his points, especially while noting the evidence of the now retired Detective Sergeant Winston Gravesande, who had told the court he saw Nightingale in front of a snackette along Rosignol Stelling Road at 23:30hrs on that day of the incident and also stated that, at 00:15hrs, Benjamin was in custody at Blairmont Police Station.
The lawyer urged the jury to look at the evidence in which Nightingale said the now dead man was being attacked by the accused but noted that, although a knife was found next to the body, the witness did not testify of seeing the weapon.
Reference was made to the testimony of Government Pathologist, Dr. Vivekanand Brijmohan who testified that the two blows which resulted in a fractured skull would have caused limited mobility and, as such, the victim could not have been walking an hour later.
“The man that sits in the dock is innocent. He did not kill. This is classic example of a girl wanting to get back at a man,” the lawyer maintained.
State Prosecutor Kissoon acknowledged that there was a lot of conflict in the evidence of Nightingale, because of the varying times she gave.
She told the jury: “There is doubt and if you reject the eyewitness story, you must acquit the accused.”