BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - THE murder case involving Erastus ‘Ras’ Laville ended on Monday (Jul. 7) with the jury returning a not guilty verdict.
It was said that Laville and another person had shot and killed Wendell Wilkinson on the morning of July 8, 2011.
The case began on June 24 with the prosecution team calling on a number of persons to give evidence on its behalf.
Among the witnesses were Wilkinson's mother, who told the Court of the last time she saw her son alive, the victim's uncle and the investigating officers.
Also giving evidence for the prosecution was a young man who testified that he saw Laville and one Darnel chase Wilkinson through an alley and shooting at him on the day in question.
The young man also testified that the chase ended under a pear tree where both Laville and Darnel shot Wilkinson several times.
After the prosecution rested its case, Laville, who was represented by Attorney-at-Law Chesley Hamilton, chose not to take the stand but called two individuals to give evidence on his behalf.
However, the case took a turn in the accused favour when a recording was admitted in Court, which revealed that the main witness, who claimed to have seen when Laville and Darnel shot Wilkinson, was not telling the truth.
The recording revealed that the witness was conversing with an individual who claimed to be his friend.
The friend was rebuking him for going to the Court and giving evidence that he saw what transpired on the morning when Wilkinson was shot.
The witness was then asked why he did it when he knew it was not true, to which he said, “Dey say do my job and I do my job.”
The friend then asked if he were sent to kill him what would he do, and he replied in the affirmative twice saying, “I do my job.”
Laville was tried once before for Wilkinson's murder in 2013 but the matter ended in a hung jury and the case was traversed.
This time however, SKNVibes was told that the jury took approximately one hour in its deliberation and returned with a not guilty verdict.
The 22-year-old Wilkinson was the 19th homicide victim for 2011.
He was shot multiple times to the body on the morning of Friday (July 8) in the vicinity of a shop in Union Street and succumbed to his injuries while undergoing emergency medical treatment at the JNF General Hospital.
On the morning when Wilkinson was shot, SKNVibes spoke to a number of people who, under the condition of anonymity, said that while he was seated among a group of men, two young men – one dressed in black and the other in brown – came from an easterly direction along Union Street and slowly walked passed them.
One of the persons explained that the two men, “who seemed to be no older than 17 years”, suddenly turned back and fired four shots and Wilkinson got up and started to run through an alley west of the shop.
“The two men chased after him and fired four more shots. He then ran onto Jean Street, crossed St. Johnston Avenue and fell down near to a pear tree. None of us who were seated there knew the men. This morning is the first time we had seen them in The Village and they seemed unconcerned about their identity, because they were not wearing any masks.
“It also seemed as if they knew who they wanted because they didn’t fire shots at anybody else. And after shooting at him, they slowly walked east along Union Street and made their way out of The Village,” the person said.
