BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DELVIN BENJAMIN walked out the Basseterre High Court of Justice this morning (June 20) a free man, after the prosecution withdrew its case following defence counsels’ objection to certain evidence that was upheld by His Lordship Justice Errol Thomas.
In the Delvin Benjamin murder trial, his defence objected to certain evidence brought against their client, and was upheld by the High Court Judge, the prosecution withdrew their case.
Benjamin was accused of murdering 37-year-old Steve ‘Steam Fish’ Pemberton of Ottley’s Village at about 11:25 p.m. on August 23, 2008.
He was represented by Senior Counsels Dr. Henry Browne and Hesketh Benjamin while Crown Counsel Rhonda Nisbett-Browne was lead prosecutor in the matter.
During the trial on Friday, June 17, the defence objected to certain evidence that would have been presented by the prosecution’s fifth witness, Constable Ray Farrel, in relation to what he claimed the deceased said.
To this end, the defence made a submission.
This morning, Justice Thomas ruled that that particular evidence was inadmissible in a court of law, as there was no corroborative evidence to support what the deceased allegedly said.
After that ruling was made, Nisbett-Browne said there was no further evidence they could put forward and they would have to respectfully withdraw their case.
This was done in the absence of the jury, and on their return to the courtroom they were instructed by Justice Thomas to return a unanimous not guilty verdict.
“The judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty based on a submission made by counsels for the accused. And, as a consequence of the ruling of the judge in upholding the submission, no other evidence was proffered by the Crown. The judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty, whereupon the accused was discharged,” Dr. Browne said in an interview with SKNVibes after the ruling.
The trial began on June 16 in which five of the nine scheduled witnesses for the prosecution gave evidence in the matter. The witnesses included the sister of the deceased, a resident of Ottley’s Village, Pathologist Dr. Stephen Jones, Woman Police Constable Gleneava Shaw and Constable Farrel.
Dr. Jones told the court that he performed the autopsy on Pemberton’s body and found that the deceased received a total of 10 gunshot wounds about his abdomen and lower limbs and died as a result of hemorrhage and shock.
Benjamin of Cabbage Tree Project, Cayon, who had been on remand since his arrest on August 24, 2008, left the court with his mother who had been present at the trial since it began.
