Witness uncooperative
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – CHARGED with murder and remanded since October 2016, popular basketball player Dwight ‘Mac 11’ Jacobs of Buckley’s Estate was set free on Tuesday (Nov. 14).
He was charged with the murder of 39-year-old Marlon ‘Mabo’ Mills of Sandy Point and also wounding with intent of the deceased man’s girlfriend.
At about 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 25, 2016, while in a vehicle in the vicinity of the Methodist Church in St. Johnston Village, Mills was shot to death and his girlfriend shot to one of her legs by an unknown assailant.
Hours after, police had arrested Jacobs and three days later informed the media via press release that he was charged with the offences.
Jacobs was subsequently remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison.
However, after being incarcerated for over a year, he appeared at the Basseterre Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, last, and was set free after the Director of Public Prosecutions, Valston Graham, made an application to have both charges withdrawn.
According to court reports, the DPP said he had made a decision to discontinue the matter because the prosecution could not have brought a prima facie case against Jacobs and that it would not be conscionable to keep him on remand.
According to the Legal Dictionary, “Prima facie is Latin for ‘at first look,’ or ‘on its face,’ referring to a lawsuit or criminal prosecution in which the evidence before trial is sufficient to prove the case unless there is substantial contradictory evidence presented at trial.”
Court reports also indicated that the case was based on a single witness who allegedly identified Jacobs as the person who did the shooting, but the said witness had since been uncooperative and refused to testify in court.
However, the DPP reportedly said that despite the matter being withdrawn at this time, it does not bar the prosecution from reinstating the charges should further evidence arise.
