BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, January 27th 2011 – After a three-hour deliberation, a 12-member jury yesterday afternoon (Jan. 26) declared at the Basseterre High Court that Esha Browne and Amare Browne were guilty of fraud.
Although submissions were made on behalf of both accused by their lawyers, the jury’s foreman said they were divided 11 to one for Amare and 10 to two for Esha.
The prosecution team was led by Crown Counsel Garth Wilkin, who said that on February 4, 2009 the two accused had fraudulently obtained US$800 from the St. Kitts Royal Beach Casino in Frigate Bay.
His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas told the court that the case should go to the jury because of the statement Amare made and the unsigned straps brought into evidence against Esha.
Corporal Oral Liburd said after he had arrested Amare the young man said he wanted to make a statement.
Liburd told the court Amare stated that he had “made a call to someone who was working to find out if someone had come to change the money”. The Corporal also told the court that Amare said “someone told him a white man gave someone counterfeit money”.
In terms of Esha, the prosecution said there was circumstantial evidence against her.
Esha was employed as a cashier at the St. Kitts Royal Beach Casino and on the night in question she began working from 6:00 p.m.
Several witnesses testified including Collette Williams, Esha’s supervisor. Williams said Esha had worked at “window one” and she did not have any work-related conversations with her that night and there were no inconsistencies.
However, when Soubrena Daniel, also a cashier at the casino, reported to work on February 5, 2009, she counted the cash in her cash draw and saw some strange bills among the US$100 denomination.
Daniel said she took the bills to a back section of the casino, marked them and found that they were counterfeit because they immediately turned black instead of brown.
She told the court that each cashier is assigned a batch number and they would have to affix their signature to the strap of money, and Esha Browne’s signature was on other straps in the drawer of window four.
During his submission, Dr. Henry Browne said the money was found in cage number four and Esha had worked in cage one, and there was no evidence that she went to cage four.
“Where is the evidence Amare even spoke to Esha and vice versa? Where is the evidence that Esha obtained anything? The charge makes no sense. Where is the evidence Esha falsely obtained or Amare? No one said they spoke to them on that night. This is the wrongest thing I have ever seen,” Dr. Browne said in his closing arguments.
Originally, the two were jointly charged with Mandefro Roberts for fraud and conspiracy to defraud. However, His Lordship had directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict for Roberts after his lawyer, Dr. Browne, who was assisted by Hesketh Benjamin, had made a no case submission on Tuesday (Jan. 25).
The charge of conspiracy to defraud against Esha and Amare Brown were dropped and they have to return to court for sentencing on Thursday, February 10.
On leaving the court for Her Majesty’s Prison, a tearful Esha Browne broke down and had to be assisted by her two police escorts.
