AFTER spending eight years behind bars, Quaison Jones, called Blondie, will now be ‘reinstated’ into society.
The 54-year old man was sentenced to 57 years’ imprisonment by Justice Navindra Singh in 2014, after a 12-member jury found him guilty of murdering his co-worker, Marlon Greene.

Jones, who maintained that he was innocent of the crime, appealed his sentence, on grounds that the sentence was too harsh, and that the learned trial judge did not properly put his case of self-defence to the jury, in accordance with the law.
The Appellate Court later granted a retrial.

The retrial finished on Wednesday (February 27, 2019) when a 12-member jury returned a unanimous not-guilty verdict in the courtroom of Justice James Bovell-Drakes.
According to reports, Greene had been a fish cleaner attached to the Meadow Bank Wharf and his killing on Monday, January 17, 2011, allegedly followed an argument relating to an old story with the accused.

On the day in question, at about 09:00 hours, five other fish cleaners were attracted by a ‘hollering.’ They said they ran to the scene and saw “Blondie over Marlon cuffing away at him.”

According to them, when they got close enough, they noticed that ‘Blondie’ had a knife in his hand, and what appeared to be blood stains were visible on the blade.
The witnesses observed that Marlon was bleeding from a wound in the neck, and they all concluded that Blondie had been stabbing away, instead of cuffing away, at Marlon, as they had first thought.

However, defence attorney Ronald Birch-Smith fought a good case, as he convinced the jury that the witnesses made up their story to frame the accused.
It was highlighted, at several instances, that the witnesses were all friends of the deceased, and there was a possibility that they could have ‘cooked-up’ their story. Birch-Smith pointed to discrepancies in their statements, which suggested that they planned to set up Jones.

After hours in deliberation, the jury returned with the unanimous not-guilty verdict, and Quaison Jones walked free.
Flocking the corridor of the court were family and friends of the freed man. They hugged him; there were tears of joy at the great news.

One family member said, “God is real. Quaison is a good man and God knows it. He didn’t kill that man.”