BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE two men who were charged with the murder of Collin ‘Izum’ Matthew were freed earlier today (Dec. 4) at the Basseterre Magistrate Court.
Denzil ‘Para’ Williams and Bernard Berry appeared before that court this morning for the continuation of the preliminary inquiry into their case when their lawyers, Chesley Hamilton and Hesketh Benjamin respectively, made “no case submissions”, citing that there is no evidence to tie their clients to the crime.
SKNVibes understands that relative to the case, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paulina Hendrickson, was asked to give her input following which Her Ladyship Josephine Mellalieu-Webbe handed down her ruling.
In accordance with the submissions, Her Worship ruled that there was not enough evidence to commit the two young men to stand trial at the High Court level.
Shortly after the men were released, SKNVibes met with both counsels who expressed that justice has been served.
“Her Ladyship Mallelieu-Webbe found that there was insufficient evidence to commit them to trial after the learned DPP Paulina Hendrickson came this morning in order to give further submissions. She, after reviewing the evidence, spoke to the court and after she spoke to the court - giving her indications and her assessment - the court then said that there was insufficient evidence to commit both Bernard Berry and Denzil Williams to trial for the murder of Collin Matthew a.k.a Izum,” Hamilton said.
Benjamin’s explanation was that “the thoughts of the prosecution never got off the ground and they ought to have seen that even in the investigation aspect of the matter. They could’ve seen that the case was very, very weak. There were not witnesses of any real substance and, to my mind, it was just a farce that they were going through. So the inevitable happened. The court upheld the no case submission because there was no evidence whatsoever to connect the two accused persons…”
Asked for a comment on their release, Williams said, “(I was) locked up wrongfully” while Berry expressed, “I am just glad I am a free man.”
On March 10, 2009, police arrested and charged Williams and Berry in connection with the murder which took place at about 1:00 p.m. on March 2, 2009. According to reports, Matthew was shot multiple times while in a rental motorcar (RA16) which was at Catherine Julius Street, Ponds Extension. The wounded man was rushed to the Joseph N. France where he succumbed to his injuries hours later.
The freed men were on remand for approximately nine months.
