Jury frees accused after 80 minutes

A LAVENTILLE man was yesterday acquitted of a murder charge but reportedly remains in police custody because he has another “minor” matter pending. After deliberating for one hour and 20 minutes yesterday afternoon, a jury returned with a not guilty verdict for Wendell “Bullen” Dubarry, of McShine Lands in Laventille.  He was charged with the July 27, 2001 murder of Mario Cobus. Cobus, an Unemployment Relief Programme (URP) employee, was fatally shot in his neck outside his girlfriend Anastasia Gilford’s home at Laventille Road, East Dry River, Port-of-Spain. He was pronounced dead later that evening. According to Dubarry’s attorney Ian Brooks, his client still had a possession of marijuana charge pending.

Nevertheless, he said, Dubarry’s family felt vindicated and firmly believed that if the officers at the Homicide Bureau of Investigations had conducted a proper investigation, Dubarry would not have had to endure the ordeal of incarceration. Dubarry too, Brooks said, felt vindicated because he had maintained from the time of his arrest on January 9, 2004 that he had not known anything about the matter. The jury had earlier been warned by Madame Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon that they were obligated, based on the evidence they had heard over the past two weeks, to determine if Gilford had been an honest person. Gilford, who had been “liming” with Cobus when he was fatally shot, had been the State’s main witness. Soo Hon drew it to the jury’s attention that in the past, innocent persons had been convicted based on a case of mistaken identity and it was their responsibility to examine the evidence carefully and convict only if they were convinced that he had been at the scene of the murder on the day in question.

Dubarry’s nine brothers all bear a striking resemblance to him. During his cross-examination of the State’s last witness Cpl Reuben Alleyne on June 14, Brooks had asked one of his client’s brothers, Christopher Dubarry, to stand up so the Court could see the resemblance. On the other hand, Soo Hon said, the jury had to consider the fact that Gilford had known the accused for 14 years and that they used to “tote water” together.  Also, the judge reminded them of the witness’ claim on oath that she had come face to face with the accused mere seconds after the shooting. According to Brooks, the evidence brought before the court showed that Cpl Alleyne never interviewed the witness, even when there were inconsistencies noticed in the first and second statements given by the witness. In addition, Brooks had said, Dubarry had never been placed on an identification parade, nor had he been allowed a “confrontation” with Gilford.