Jury submits guilty verdict for Gilbert’s killers!!
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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Romeo ‘Buncum’ Cannonier
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BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AT about five o’clock this afternoon, the verdict was read and the four-member team that was tried for the murder of Gavin ‘Magilla’ Gilbert was unanimously convicted of committing the March 21, 2005 offence.
Just a few minutes before 5:00 p.m., the four-man/eight-woman jury exited the deliberation room after some two hours and announced to the court that Sheldon ‘Hatcher’ Isaac, Romeo ‘Buncum’ Cannonier, Ruedeney ‘Denney’ Williams and Louis ‘Tooloo’ Gardner were guilty as charged.
The men were tried for both murder and conspiracy to commit murder and were convicted of the former.
The jury sat through seven days of testimonies from prosecution witnesses, testimonies from two of the accused, closing arguments and a lengthy summation of the evidence in the case and retired for deliberations sometime in the afternoon.
After the verdict was read, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paulina Hendrickson, informed the court that she would be seeking the death penalty.
Presiding Judge, Justice Albert Redhead ordered a psychiatric evaluation and a social report to be conducted on all of the men. The
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| Sheldon Isaac (green shirt), Ruedeney Williams (brown shirt) and Louis Gardner (brown/white shirt) |
reports are to be presented to the court for perusal before June 14, 2008; the day the men are scheduled for sentencing.
The men were removed from the courtroom and taken to Her Majesty’s Prison.
According to evidence presented, the four men had unique roles in Gilbert’s orchestrated death. Also, in accordance with the evidence, Cannonier had masterminded the plan, Williams was the transporter and whistle blower while Isaac and Gardner were the executioners.
The plan was birthed, as evidence suggested, because Gilbert was a key witness in the case of the murder of Police Constable Delvin Nisbett; an offence for which Cannonier was convicted.
In an interesting twist however, Cannonier was behind bars when the incident occurred but other evidence presented indicated that he communicated his plan to Gardner through Lionel Warner, whom Sir Richard Cheltenham described as “the messenger of death”. ~~Adz:Left~~
Evidence also suggested that Isaac was present when the message was communicated and volunteered his services.
Sometime between 9:50 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. on March 21, 2005, Gilbert was gunned down several meters from his Saddlers Village home.
The four men are scheduled to appear before the court on Monday, July 14, 2008 for sentencing.
