State witness disappears

MADAME Justice Paula Mae Weekes yesterday allowed a prosecutor more time to find the State’s main witness in a murder trial. The witness, Nigel Parks, has reportedly moved from where he lived at the time of the murder, and his new address remains unknown to the State. Parks allegedly saw the accused, Sherwin Smith, beating Stephen “Four Five” Romeo on the morning of February 2 2002, at the Port-of-Spain Central Market. Romeo subsequently died at the scene.

Smith, 25, of tenth Avenue Barataria, is before Weekes at the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court charged with the murder. When the matter was called yesterday morning, State attorney Cheron Raphael told the judge that the State’s efforts to find the witness had so far proven futile. Weekes granted Raphael more time to try to locate Parks and adjourned the trial to today. Smith is being represented by attorneys Keith Scotland and Larry Williams.