A pair of dark glasses which a witness said a robber was wearing worked in favour of the man who was convicted of the crime.
Bernard Rhoden, 28-year-old mechanic of May Pen, Clarendon, was freed after the Court of Appeal held that a pair of dark glasses could impede the witness from identifying the robber who she was seeing for the first time.
Rhoden was convicted in February this year in the Clarendon Circuit Court and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for charges of illegal possession of firearm and robbery.
Eyewitness evidence weak
Defence lawyer Bert Samuels, of law firm Knight, Junor and Samuels, who represented Rhoden, submitted that the evidence of the sole eyewitness was weak. He pointed out that the witness did not know Rhoden before the day of the robbery. According to him the witness in her evidence said that Rhoden was wearing a pair of dark glasses. That information was not recorded in her police statement.
Evidence was given at the trial that, on October 15, 2005, Rhoden and another man, both armed with guns, robbed a store in May Pen. The witness said six days later Rhoden came back into the store and she called the police. He was later arrested.
