David Chesney, the KFC security guard charged with killing a mentally ill man who was handcuffed at the restaurant, was granted his freedom yesterday at the High Court.
Following a no-case submission by defence attorney Vidyanand Persaud, Justice James Bovell-Drakes pronounced Chesney innocent of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Oneil Adams.
The submission was made after the testimony of the last witness, government pathologist Dr Nehaul Singh.
The death of Singh’s son under dire circumstances had led to an adjournment of the trial last week. Prosecutor Prethima Kissoon sought the adjournment since she believed that Singh’s evidence was vital to the prosecution’s case and the explanation of his analysis would be able to proffer to the court the trajectory of the bullets. Although Justice Bovell-Drakes did not believe Singh needed to be present because the post-mortem report was clearly set out, he granted the adjournment after the prosecutor cited a case for his consideration. On February 25, 2005 chaos broke out in front of the KFC Stabroek outlet when Chesney shot and killed Adams, said to be mentally ill, at the restaurant. Adams was shot in his leg and back, according to the police.
Adams, who was in handcuffs before being shot, was said to have been behaving in a frenzied manner and the guard was trying to subdue him.
Police had said that enquiries had disclosed that before the shooting Adams had attempted to snatch money from a man but was prevented by some members of the public. He then ran towards the KFC outlet where he broke a glass door and entered the building only to be confronted by the guard on duty who handcuffed him.
Chesney first appeared in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court in March of 2005, charged with murder. However, he was later committed to stand trial for manslaughter and was released on $150,000 bail.
