Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
TWO MEN who shot and killed a couple at their home at Heartease, St. Thomas, in 1995, have been convicted of capital murder and are to be sentenced on October 28.
The jury retired for three hours last Thursday before convicting Vassell Davis of Heartease District, and Junior Edwards from Grants Pen, St. Thomas, of the double murder.
They were convicted in the Home Circuit Court of the murder of 64-year-old Moses Brown and his girlfriend 20-year-old Jerrine Wilkinson.
The Crown, represented by Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Donald Bryan, and Crown Counsel Dale Palmer, led evidence that on September 16, 1995, three men, including the two accused, broke and entered the couple's house.
The men, who were all armed with guns, demanded money from the occupants.
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One of the witnesses who was a returning resident from England, said he had arrived in the island about 10 days before the incident. He said one of the men came into the room where he was and demanded money and he gave them local and foreign currency. He said while he was being robbed, one of the men fired a shot which grazed one of his ears.
The witness said he began wrestling with one of the gunmen and it was during that time he heard shots being fired in an adjoining room. The gunmen ordered him to drive a van that was parked in the yard.
He said he went into the van and, as soon as one of the gunmen opened the gate, drove at a fast speed through the gate and went to the Yallahs police station, in St. Thomas. The police returned with him to the house where he discovered that the couple had died.
The men, in their defence, denied committing the offence. They were first convicted of the double murder in 1999 but the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial. They were tried in 2003 but the jury failed to arrive at a verdict and a third trial was ordered for them.
Mr. Justice Wesley James presided at the trial.
