BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A young man was very certain that he would have left the Basseterre High Court unshackled by Monday (Mar. 25), so much so that he even offered to take an individual to a bar and have a drink on the following day.
He was however unaware that when the 10-woman-two-man jury retired for deliberation they would have emerged with an 11-1 guilty verdict on the two charges laid against him.
Esroy Mills, despite his confidence throughout the trial, was sent back to Her Majesty's Prison to await sentencing after he was found guilty of one count of assault with intent to commit a felony and one count of shooting at with intent.
He was said to have shot at Bichara Isaac sometime after 4:00 p.m. on July 4, 2011 while in the vicinity of the Cayon Primary School, and that on the same day he pointed a gun at Constable Glenroy Stanley with intent to commit a felony.
Isaac had testified that on the day in question, someone indeed shot at him but he could not have identified the individual because he did not see the person's face.
He described himself as being scared when the incident took place and said that his focus at that time was running away to save his life.
Constable Stanley, in his testimony, said that he saw Mills point a gun at him with intention of shooting him.
He said as Mills got to about 40 to 50 feet away, he shouted, "Esroy...police. Drop the gun and get on the ground." But Mills instead lifted the hand with the gun and pointed it in his direction to shoot at him.
In response to that action, Stanley said he quickly fired a shot from his service pistol in Mills' leg area and shouted, "Police, drop the gun. Get on the ground and drop the gun."
Mills, in defence, said that the allegations made against him were false and that he was shot from behind.
He testified that while he was walking down the dirt track opposite the Old Cotton House in Cayon, he was shot when he stopped at the standpipe to wash his hands, face and drink some water.
He maintained throughout his testimony that he had no backpack or gun that the police claimed, only his cellular phone.
Mills is expected to be sentenced sometime during the May 2013 Criminal Assizes upon completion of his Social Inquiry Report.
The January Criminal Assizes closed yesterday (Mar. 28).
