– in the interest of justice

THE trial pertaining to the murder of Jason Cort, the Rubis accountant who was shot and killed by bandits at his Meadowbrook Gardens home in 2015, was on Tuesday aborted again by Justice Brassington Reynolds at the Demerara High Court.

The trial had commenced against Stancy Rodney, 30; Linton Eastman, 33, and Clifton Gibson, 33, all of whom have pleaded not guilty to the charge, which read that on June 17, 2015, at Meadowbrook Gardens, Georgetown, during the course of a robbery, they murdered Cort.

The Guyana Chronicle was made to understand that there was a development in relation to the trial, which led to an inquiry. The judge, based on the inquiry, decided that the trial had to be aborted in the interest of justice.

Consequently, the three accused will have to face a new trial at the next sitting of the Demerara Assizes.

On January, 15, 2020, a similar path had to be taken by Justice Reynolds when the matter was first called and a retrial was ordered.

On the day in question around 22:30hrs, Cort was shot to the chest when gunmen invaded his home before making off with his licensed firearm, mobile phone and Nintendo game.
Cort had just returned home from an outing with his girlfriend. She was also at home at the time of the incident but was unhurt. It was reported that the bandits took Cort’s licensed firearm, cellphone, gold band, chain, ring and an X-Box console.
One person from the community had indicated that after hearing the loud explosion and looking outside, they observed persons scaling the fence of Cort’s home and fleeing up the road.