(Trinidad Express) – A murder charge against Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Imam Yasin Abu Bakr and his co-accused, Brent “Big Brent” Miller, was discontinued on Thursday after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard said there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case.
Both men were charged on September 29 after Coroner Nalini Singh concluded there was sufficient evidence to charge them with the killing of 22-year-old mechanic Israel Sammy.
Sammy, of Dacca Street, Boissiere Village, Maraval, was taken from his home by masked men around 2 a.m., beaten and shot dead behind his home on May 20, 1998.
When the matter was called at 9.32 a.m. yesterday in the Port of Spain Eighth Magistrate’s Court, Gaspard told Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar the State would not be able to proceed against both men.
Gaspard told the Chief Magistrate he filed a notice of discontinuance against both men, having read the notes of the inquest which led to the men’s arrest.
Gaspard only received the notes of evidence shortly before noon on Wednesday.
He told the Chief Magistrate he was of the view the case did not have any “evidential basis” for the State to move forward. Gaspard added the evidence against both men was insufficient, and the “prospect of a guilty verdict was negligible or nil”, adding, “no jury properly directed could convict”.
