Murder accused Louis Lancaster was yesterday freed of the charge of murdering a taxi driver in 2008 after the court upheld a no-case submission made by the defence.
Lancaster left the courtroom after Justice Navindra Singh upheld the no-case submission made by defence counsel Peter Hugh in the High Court. Justice Singh then asked the twelve-member jury panel to return a formal verdict of not guilty after he upheld Hugh’s submission.
Justice Singh also told Lancaster that only he knows what happened and he has to know how he is living his life now.
Lancaster was on trial for the murder of Vibert Assanah, which occurred on October 26, 2008, on Bent Street.
It was alleged that Lancaster and a male accomplice murdered Assanah, who was an ex-police officer, by stabbing him in the shoulder with a knife that punctured a major artery.
In his caution statement, Lancaster told police that he and another man, identified only as `Mike’ hired Assanah’s taxi from the hospital to travel to East Ruimveldt. He added that an argument then ensued between Assanah and `Mike’ and as they continued to argue, the driver reached over to a pocket inside of the car and pulled out a knife.
“I was trying to unbuckle my seat belt. Mike pull out a knife and punch the driver a couple a times and the driver was trying to defend himself.
While this was going on I was trying to get out of the car,” Lancaster said, while adding that the driver stabbed him to the neck and he later tried to get a car to take him to the hospital as he was screaming for help.
State prosecutors Konyo Thompson and Dhanika Singh had presented ex-policeman Sherwlyn Brathwaite as a witness in the trial. Brathwaite told the court that he was at the crime scene and took a statement from the accused but admitted under cross-examination that there was no evidence to contradict what the accused had said.
