A HOME CIRCUIT Court jury has freed Delroy Williams, 48, furniture maker, of 7 Freemans Lane, Kingston 13 of the murder of Michael Campbell, 61, who was killed during a dispute.
The Crown alleged that between November 9 and 10, 2001, Williams used a knife and a machete to inflict several wounds on Campbell which resulted in his death.
Nicola Thompson testified at the trial before Mr. Justice Donald McIntosh and a jury that about 10:00 p.m. on November 9, 2001, she and her friends were at the gate of 7 Freemans Lane, off Maxfield Avenue when she heard a sound and rushed into the yard where she saw the deceased with a cut on his left thumb.
PICKED UP A MACHETE
He said the accused who was also called "World Best" had cut him. The deceased went by his house and picked up a machete. She later saw the deceased and the accused talking by the fence but she could not hear what they were saying.
Thompson said she saw the accused stab the deceased, and the deceased then chopped the accused in his forehead. Williams then pulled the machete from the deceased and used it to chop him several times.
A policeman testified that he got a report and visited the Kingston Public Hospital where the accused was a patient. He said he did not speak to the accused that day because he was sleeping.
Williams said in his defence that he and the deceased were friends. He said on the day of the incident the deceased, who was a mason, accused him of causing him to miss a job. When he went into his yard, the deceased grabbed him up and he pulled his knife and cut him on his hand so he would let him go.
He said the deceased ran for his machete and chopped him in his forehead. He said he took the machete from the deceased and flashed it several times to keep the deceased from attacking him because he was bleeding profusely from the wound to his forehead. Williams said he was taken to hospital where he was admitted for two days.
The jury retired for more than an hour and found Williams not guilty of murder or manslaughter.
