A MIXED jury at the Demerara Assizes last Friday found 25-year-old Timothy Noel of Georgetown not guilty of unlawfully killing Delwin Mc Queen on June 11, 2008.The freed man was said to be 16-years-old at the time of the alleged offence.
The prosecution led by Mercedes Thompson had accused Noel of inflicting the injury that caused death following an argument between the two youths when the accused armed himself with an 8-foot piece of timber with nails and inflicted the injury that caused death.
But defence counsel Hewly Griffith and Lawrence Harris contended that on the day in question, the deceased was the aggressor and had attacked the older youth with a knife causing him to run away.
According to Griffith, the younger man was running after Noel with the knife when Noel picked up the piece of timber along the roadside and pelted it at the accused while acting in self-defence.
The timber with the nails landed on the head of Mc Queen, causing him to suffer death from paralysis some days later.
Police investigating the crime arrested and charged the accused with murder. However, at his trial he led a defence of self-defence and was found not guilty by the jury.
The accused was discharged by presiding judge, Justice Brassington Reynolds. The jury took two hours to reach their unanimous verdict.
By George Barclay