TWO men on Monday walked to freedom from the courtroom of city Magistrate Judy Latchman after an armed robbery charge was dismissed against them on the ground that their ID Parade was not conducted properly. Keon Simon, 19, of Chapel Street Charlestown and Akeem Marshall, 21, of Albouystown, had spent the last nine months on remand after being accused of robbing Inez Hope, at gunpoint, of one gold bracelet valued $120,000, US$530 among other items on January 2, 2015 at Palm Street, Georgetown.
The pair was also alleged to have robbed Yvonne and Christopher Langerbine of cash and jewellery, all to the value of $6M.
At Monday’s hearing, Magistrate Latchman in her address to the court, explained that she was not satisfied with the evidence given by a witness of the prosecution. That witness resided next door to where the alleged robbery occurred.
Police Corporal Kerry Bostwick, presenting the case of the prosecution, had brought a witness who testify to having seen Marshall and Simon for about eight seconds; this was before and after the men had left the premises.
However, Magistrate Latchman stressed that the time-span was insufficient for the witness to remember the physical features of the men. As such, she placed no weight on that piece of evidence.
The two charges were dismissed after the prosecution closed its case. After the magistrate’s ruling, the two men hurried down to the court outpost, with one shouting: “Boy, ah going home! Ah free!” while running out of the compound.
Earlier this year, the men had two charges of robbery under arms against them dismissed. They were accused of robbing two persons of a quantity of gold jewellery.
Also, in June, the men were convicted on an armed robbery charge by a city magistrate and were ordered to pay a fine of $75,000 each.