Freed murder accused speaks out

AFTER BEING informed by the Court that he was freed of the murder charge, Junior Nicholas made an urgent call for the authorities to do more to rehabilitate prisoners at the Remand Yard since nothing is in place to help them deal with the situation.

Nicholas’ freedom came after High Court Judge Melville Baird directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict on the murder charge. The decision followed the State’s admission that they could not proceed after the judge denied their application to have two depositions by its main witnesses admitted into evidence. The two men, Ken George and Wayne Selby Peters, have since died. Nicholas, 37, of Picton Road, Laventille, appeared before Justice Baird at the Port-of-Spain First Criminal Court charged with murdering Tamarind Square resident Curtis LeBlanc, also known as “Teeths,” on February 12, 2001 at Tamarind Square, Port-of-Spain. LeBlanc, 37, was found by other homeless persons near a make-shift mattress in Tamarind Square.

In a written statement presented to the media following his release yesterday, Nicholas, also known as “Akee” and “Blackboy”, said that he spent a total of two years in prison and knew that nothing was being done to rehabilitate Remand Yard prisoners. He noted that a person could spend up to 24 months waiting for his preliminary inquiry to be heard before the magistrates’ court and another 20-30 months for the matter to be sent to the High Court and during this period, they are locked up in an overcrowded prison. Nicholas also called on the powers that be to do more than increase police patrols in the “ghetto.” He advised that developmental projects be done to improve the conditions in the area so that people could feel proud of where they lived.

At the start of the trial last Wednesday, State attorneys Althea Alexis and Angelica Teelucksingh made an application to have the depositions of both George and Peters admitted into evidence. However after three days of legal arguments, the judge informed the attorneys that to admit the depositions would be prejudicial, and would lead to an unfair trial since the State did not disclose the criminal records of the two witnesses to defence attorneys Sophia Chote and Nadia Ashraph despite several requests. Baird declared that when a witness is brought in to give evidence, the police should take their fingerprints to get the criminal records of that witness so that the information could be disclosed to the defence as soon as possible. Following the Judge’s decision, the State advised that they could not proceed any further. The judge then instructed the jury to return a not guilty verdict.