MURDER accused Kenise Glasgow, 26, who had been on trial at the Demerara Assizes for the shooting murder of nine-year-old Christine Sookra, of Coldingen Housing Scheme, East Coast Demerara, was freed on a no-case submission yesterday.

He was indicted for committing the crime when he was 17 years old, but Justice Roxanne George, after conducting a voir dire (trial within a trial), found that an alleged confession, which was the only evidence against the prisoner, to be similar to a tangled web that led to nothing.
The judge ruled that the testimony in the smaller trial, which alleged that Glasgow had committed the offence on August 25, 2004, contained glaring inconsistencies, so flimsy, that it could not be entertained.
To the extent, that Justice George wondered why the magistrate did not conduct a voir dire at the preliminary inquiry (PI).
The judge observed that none of the witnesses could say how and why the accused came to be arrested five months after he gave a caution statement.
At the beginning of the trial, Defence Counsel Basil Williams requested the voir dire to determine the admissibility of the alleged confession which the accused denied making.
Contracted tuberculosis
During his incarceration, the prisoner contracted tuberculosis and had to wear a mask in court to avoid spreading the disease.
Mr. Williams, the Court Marshal and the Police also wore masks and, at the conclusion of the case, the lawyer said he would keep his mask as a souvenir.
Following the judge’s ruling, leading state prosecutor Rhondel Weever, who was associated with other state counsel Natasha Backer, said the prosecution was not in a position to offer further evidence.
As a consequence, the judge advised the jurors about the unsatisfactory nature of the evidence and directed them to return a formal verdict of not guilty in favour of the accused.
The freed prisoner was leaving the dock wearing his mask when a woman relative screamed with joy and had to be helped from the courtroom.