Men rearrested as new trial ordered

Retrial was ordered for Dirk Bruno and Sheldon Henry by Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke- Soo Hon, Rajendra Narine and Mark Mohammed who ruled in favour of an appeal filed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Justice Mohammed, who delivered the ruling, found the evidence in the case was not weak or tenuous and its strength would have depended on a jury’s assessment.

The two immediately rearrested after the ruling was delivered in the court.

Murder indictments in their name were returned to the High Court for the next cause list hearing.

In 2015, Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas upheld no-case submissions which contested the identification statement taken from the state’s main witness.

After a six-week trial, in which ten witnesses gave evidence and six formal admissions were heard, Justice St Clair-Douglas said he had a duty to review the quality of the evidence presented and came to the “inescapable conclusion” it was poor. He directed the 12-member jury to return a not-guilty verdict.

Bruno and Henry, both of New Village, Point Fortin, were charged with the 2007 murder of Goodridge, 21, a student of the Servol Life Centre, La Romaine.

In his judgement, Justice Mohammed said, “there is no gainsaying that there were areas of weakness, but these could have been the subject of appropriately robust cautions given within the context of the overall Turnbull warning. We therefore conclude the judge erred in law in upholding the submission of no case to answer and in withdrawing the case from the jury.” According to the principles of the case of R vs Turnbull, a judge should direct a jury to examine closely the circumstances in which the identification by each witness came to be made and remind the jury of any specific weaknesses in the identification evidence.

At the appeal, the DPP was represented by prosecutor Mauricia Joseph while Larry Williams and Marissa Bubb appeared for Bruno and Henry.