THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2024
VOLUME 118, No.13
Justice served Page 4
Garifuna spirit survives Page 11
www.thevincentian.com
Awareness needed Page 16
EC$1.50
Man steals piglets Page 20
SHOPKEEPER’S MURDER CASE COLLAPSES Jahbery Jackson’s (centre) trial was never heard by a jury. He was found not guilty upon the evidence heard during a voir dire (trial within a trial).
by HAYDN HUGGINS A 26-YEAR-OLD CAMPDEN PARK/REDEMPTION SHARPES man was freed of a murder
charge on Monday before the substantive trial could get underway. The case collapsed after Justice Richard Floyd sitting
at High Court 1 agreed with defense lawyer Kay Bacchus-Baptiste that all three statements the accused, Jahbery Jackson, gave to the police were inadmissible based on the way they were taken. Jackson, also known as Michael Richards, was charged with the November 14, 2018 murder of 56-year-old shopkeeper Sabitree Lyttle, also known as ‘Ileen’, who was shot and killed while she was in the shop that she and her husband operated in Hollywood, Redemption Sharpes, East Kingstown. Upon conclusion of a voir dire (trial within a trial), held in the absence of the jury, Justice Floyd ruled that the three statements, one in relation Sabitree Lyttle – for whose to the notes the police took murder Jahbery Jackson was charged. when Jackson was arrested; another in which deals with the relation to the electronic interviewing of suspects for interview and a third (one) which was taken at the scene serious crimes. Following Justice Floyd’s of the crime, should all be ruling, Prosecutor Richie withdrawn from the jury. Maitland, indicated that the His ruling in this regard was founded primarily on the Crown was withdrawing the charge against Jackson. As a basis of the frame of mind of result, Justice Floyd recalled the accused at the time the the 12-member Jury and statements were taken, and directed them to return a therefore to include them formal verdict of not guilty. would be unfair and unreliable. The defence arguments The Judge also ruled that the interviews the police During the voir dire conducted with Jackson were Bacchus-Baptiste argued that done in breach of the Act the entire way the police dealt
AIA facing strike Page 28
Justice Richard Floyd had no other choice, given the preponderance of evidence during the voir dire, other than to direct that a not guilty verdict be brought in favour of the accused. with her client was unfair and all three statements should be excluded in the interest of justice. She pointed out that the Act in relation to the interviewing of suspects for serious crimes states that when interviewing vulnerable persons, it must be done in the presence of an appropriate adult such as a relative, lawyer, or religious minister. But the Crown admitted that this was not done. The lawyer said that Jackson should have been regarded as a mentally Continued on Page 3.