BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - A case involving a man charged with raping a young lady on November 24, 2012 ended yesterday afternoon (May 28) in a hung jury.
The trial began on Wednesday (May 22) with 10 witnesses, including the victim and Dr. Vance Gilbert, who gave evidence on behalf of the prosecution which is being led by Acting Director of Public Prosecution Rhonda Nisbett-Browne.
SKNVibes understands that the victim was taken from her home just after 9:00 p.m. on the said night to be transported to Sandy Point, but the accused allegedly stopped on the way and took her into some bushes and raped her.
This publication also understands that the act was allegedly intended to be repeated the next morning but it was not fulfilled.
The accused was self-represented at the trial and, after the prosecution rested its case, took the stand in an attempt to declare his innocence but was only successful in convincing half of the jury.
He did not call any witnesses to testify on his behalf.
Following the judge's summation, the jury retired for deliberation and returned hours later unable to decide on innocence or guilt of the accused. The judge however sent the members of the jury to further deliberate, and after sometime they returned with a nine-three verdict.
The matter was traversed to the September 2013 Criminal Assizes for retrial.