Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
TWO MEN have been freed in the Home Circuit Court of the murder of David Robert Shaw, a 33-year-old security guard who was ambushed and shot several times in Hanna Town, west Kingston.
Freed were labourers Conroy Slater and Alphanso Smith, of Hanna Town.
Shaw was ambushed and shot several times while he was on his way to work at about 6 a.m. on June 30, 2001.
The men were freed after the court visited the crime scene and found that although the eyewitness had said the shooting took place 30 yards away from where she was, the distance was more than 100 yards.
After the court returned from the crime scene, attorneys-at-law Janet Nosworthy and Pamela Shoucair-Gayle, who represented the men, submitted that the credibility of the only eyewitness for the Crown was destroyed.
The lawyers had applied to visit the crime scene after the Crown closed its case and the prosecution did not oppose the application.
Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn conceded that it would be unsafe to leave the case to the jury based on what transpired at the crime scene.
Justice Basil Reid and the lawyers commended Miss Llewellyn and described her as a true minister of justice.
The sole eyewitness was a district constable who said she was at the police station at Hanna Town at 6 a.m. on June 30, 2001, when she saw the two accused fired shots at the deceased. She said when the deceased fell, the men went over to where he was and fired more shots.
The eyewitness added that she saw flashes of gunfire coming from some trees near to where the deceased was. The witness said she saw the two men, whom she had known before, for about 20 seconds during the shooting incident.
