THIRTY–four–year-old Deon Layne, a miner of Lot HH Freeman Street, East La Penitence, Georgetown, the man accused in the ‘SSS Tonic’ deaths that claimed the lives of four persons, walked out of Magistrate Judy Latchman’s court a free man on Monday after the case of cocaine trafficking against him was dismissed.
Particulars of the case Layne faced detailed that on May 2, at Kokerite Street, Georgetown, he had in his possession 252 grammes of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The Prosecution’s case is that on the day in question, at about 21:00 hrs, the defendant went to the home of Candacy McGarrell’s niece, who was visiting from the United States, to request her to take some SSS Tonics for his brother in the USA. The court heard that the woman left Guyana without the tonic, and five occupants of the home ingested the substance. Later, six–year–old Jahaquel Blair and his parents — 42–year–old Alex Blair and Simone Pryce; and a neighbour, 36–year–old Natasha George, all died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after ingesting the tonic.
The post-mortem revealed that those persons died from consuming the tonic, which contained liquefied cocaine; but 12-year-old Jamal Waterman survived.
The unrepresented defendant told the court that the police had taken his fingerprints while he was in custody, but those never matched any print on the box or bottle. In addition, the police never conducted an identification parade.
Layne noted that at no time did he ever make contact with Candacy McGarrel’s niece for her to take the SSS Tonic overseas; and that Jamal Waterman, the survivor who testified, said that he saw him talking with his father, but never saw him bringing anything.
The defendant begged the Magistrate for guidance and a fair trial, saying: “It’s a very sad situation, but I’m innocent.”
Inspector Vishnu Hunt noted that no indentification parade was necessary because the defendant was known and identified by the witnesses. Hunt noted that Layne was the one who had handed over the bottle containing the tonic, but he was now trying to get the Court’s sympathy.
Magistrate Latchman, in her ruling, noted that she is satisfied the defendant knew it was tonic in the bottle containing the cocaine, but she said the prosecution’s case was weak and unreliable since they could not provide the court with reasonable evidence to link Layne to the charge.
She therefore found Layne not guilty of the charge, and dismissed the case against him. “My Bible is my tool; I don’t need no lawyer to prove my innocence” were the last words of the free man before he left the court to go home to meet his two-month-old newborn baby and family, from whom he had been separated since his incarceration.
