MURDER accused Rudolph Williams, 31, had his case dismissed by Justice Brassington Reynolds in the Demerara Assizes after the jury yesterday returned a verdict of not guilty in his favour.

He had allegedly murdered Naomi Singh of Murshee, East Bank, Essequibo because she insisted on ending their new friendship.
The accused had told the mixed jury of six women and half a dozen men that he had make up the story in a confession statement after the police had beaten him to confess that he was the killer. In court, he had pleaded not guilty to the offence of murder.
Defence Attorney Mr. George Thomas had asked the jury to acquit his client, while prosecuting attorney Miss Natasha Backer, in association with Miss Dhanika Singh, had requested a guilty verdict, in accordance with the evidence that had been led.
After opining that Williams’s story – that he had been beaten to present a fabrication to the  police — turned out to be the only evidence against the accused, the judge told the jury that if they were not satisfied  beyond the shadow of a doubt that the evidence adduced by the witnesses was unworthy of belief, they were entitled to disregard that evidence and return a verdict of not guilty. On the other hand, he said, as judges of the facts, they could use their experiences to arrive at a conclusion of guilt.
Williams had allegedly murdered  20-year-old Naomi Singh in May, 2009, and had had a defence no-case submission on his behalf overruled by presiding Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara Assizes last Thursday.
In his defence, Williams gave an unsworn statement from the witness box, as he is entitled to by law, where no one could ask him questions. He said that on the day in question, the father of the girl had told him that his daughter was missing, and had enquired her whereabouts from him.
The accused said he joined the search party and, according to him, while all this was going on, he was held and beaten by the police, who accused him of murdering the girl.
He said the police had placed a black bag over his head, and had used a truck spring to beat him under his feet. He also said he had been threatened with a revolver, and on one occasion, when he raised his hand to bar a blow, the weapon had cut him on his finger.
He said that because of violence and threats of violence, he had become fearful and had told the police that he had killed the girl and had thrown her body in a pond. The body of the girl, who had sustained a fatal wound to her neck, was found on a muddy dam.
In his confession statement, the accused had said among other things, “I got a message that the girl wanted to see me. We were friends, but we never had sex. I went to her, and she told me that the friendship had ended and that she does not like black people anymore. I picked up a cutlass….
In another section of the same caution statement, the accused admitted saying, “After being beaten by the police under my feet with a truck spring, I made up the story by telling them that I ran behind the girl with a cutlass and cut her on her neck, and throw her body in a pond.”
The girl’s partly submerged body was found at a place called Murshee, East Bank, Essequibo on May 1st 2009, partly covered with mud, and with a wound on the neck.
Post-mortem examination showed that she died from shock and haemorrhage due to an incised wound to the neck.