Barclay to know fate on Monday

JUSTICE Diana Insanally who is presiding in the Alvin Barclay murder trial will sum up the evidence to the jury on Monday morning, after which she would hand the case to them for their consideration and verdict.Defence counsel Mr. George Thomas in his address to the jury yesterday urged them to find that from the evidence they would conclude that Yohan Hunte, now deceased, was the aggressor and was chasing the accused all over the place.
Under such circumstances, it was the bounden duty of the jury to return a verdict of not guilty in favour of the accused who was running to save his life.
Prosecutrix Miss Mercedes Thomson told the jury that the accused had given a different defence in his unsworn statement from the dock to that which he was advocating during the trial.
Barclay is said to have fatally stabbed ‘Man on the roof’ during a fight on September 2nd, 2012.
However at the closure of the prosecution’s case last Monday after four witnesses were called, the defence counsel elected to make a no-case submission in the absence of the jury.
The prosecution disagreed that there could be a proper plea of self-defence.
After that submission was overruled by the judge, the defence lawyer urged the jury to return a verdict of not guilty in favour of his client, pointing out that even if the accused had lied about his defence, it was the duty of the prosecution to establish a case against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.

(By George Barclay)