‘Nervous’ freed of 2017 bus park murder due to lack of evidence
Wayne Gilbert, called ‘Nervous,’ who was accused of fatally shooting a man during a robbery at the route 32 minibus park in 2017, was freed of the crime due to lack of evidence.
Last week, Gilbert, 30, of West La Penitence, Georgetown, was arraigned before High Court Judge Sandil Kissoon and pleaded not guilty to murder.
The allegation against Gilbert is that on January 20, 2017, at Croal Street, Georgetown, he murdered 43-year-old Rawle Rodrigues during the course/furtherance of a robbery.
However, Justice Kissoon directed the jurors to return a formal verdict of not guilty after ruling that an oral confession given by Gilbert, which was the prosecution’s case, was inadmissible.
Justice Kissoon disclosed that the confession was inadmissible because it was not signed by Gilbert while highlighting that there was no other evidence linking him to the crime.
The 30-year-old man was represented by Attorney-at-law Stanley Moore, SC, while State Counsels Muntaz Ali and Taneisha Saygon appeared for the prosecution.
According to media reports, Rodrigues was on the route 32 minibus park when an argument ensued between him and three men, who had reportedly trailed him.
During the argument, the men attempted to rob him, during which he was stabbed in the chest. The 43-year-old man was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital but succumbed to his injuries.
Gilbert was first charged with the man’s murder in 2017, and by 2019, a Magistrate committed him to stand trial for the offence in the High Court.
However, last year, Affiba Yenkana and Akeem Haymer, who were jointly charged with Rodrigues’s murder, opted to plead guilty to the lesser count of manslaughter.
They were both slapped with life imprisonment with the possibility of being paroled after serving a minimum of 15 years.
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