AFTER spending the last six years behind bars on a manslaughter charge, Trevor Williams was on Wednesday freed of the capital charge at the Demerara High Court.
Williams, called ‘Short man,’ 26, formally of Kamwatta, Aruka River, was on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury.

The indictment read that on April 4, 2013, at ‘Bruck Up’ Landing, North West District, Williams unlawfully killed Randy Raphael.

Williams was represented by attorney-at-law Mark Conway, while the state was represented by Teriq Mohammed, Tuanna Hardy and Abigail Gibbs.

The trial commenced on Wednesday afternoon with four witnesses giving evidence. However, the state did not have the alleged murder weapon, nor the post- mortem report to tender in court. Consequently, attorney Conway made a no-case submission, citing the lack of evidence by the state to support the charge.

Justice Singh upheld the no-case submission and directed the jury to return a not- guilty verdict. According to a police report, on the day in question around 21:30hrs, Williams and Raphael were both in a building at ‘Bruck Up’ Landing consuming alcohol. An altercation ensued, during which Raphael armed himself with a handgun and shot Raphael to the head. Williams then went into hiding, but surrendered to the police several days later.