(Jamaica Observer) MONTEGO BAY, St James — The two brothers who were charged with the rape and assault of five females, including an eight-year-old, in the upscale community of Irwin Point in St James last year, were on Monday acquitted of all charges in the Western Regional Gun Court after the prosecution offered no further evidence.
Twenty-one-year-old Sheldon Brissett and his 20-year-old brother, Kerron, were released after the prosecution called two of their 10 witnesses during the first day of the much-anticipated trial.
Attorney Lambert Johnson, who appeared for both men, told the Jamaica Observer that he was “very happy that justice has been done”.
He said while he was not surprised by the acquittal of the men, he was rather astonished that the prosecution had insisted on going to trial after the DNA evidence that they had volunteered to give did not place them at the scene of the assault.
The attorney also described the identification evidence as “exceedingly poor”.
The trial was presided over by Justice Evan Brown.
The brothers were jointly charged with burglary, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of firearm, abduction and assault at common law, as well as the sexual assault charges, including rape, buggery, sexual touching and grievous sexual assault, after they were pointed out at an ID parade.
The duo had argued that they were innocent of the charges and voluntarily offered DNA samples for testing.
The court was told that, on September 24 last year, an armed man gained access to the house where the females were after he held onto one of the family members by her hair through a window and threatened to kill her if his accomplice was not allowed inside the house. She reluctantly complied.
It was heard that after the two men gained entry into the house, they ransacked the rooms and demanded that the occupants hand over their cellular phones.
The women, the court heard, were reportedly ordered to hand over money and other valuables, including laptop computers, then tied up.
The men then allegedly took the females — one at a time — to a nearby open lot and proceeded to rape them.
There were mixed reactions from Irwin Point residents last night to the news that the accused men were acquitted of the charges. A female member of the community expressed shock at acquittal. “Oh my, I can’t believe!” she exclaimed.
“I don’t know what to say, it seems like something went wrong,” she another woman.
A female educator, who gave her name as Pat, said from the outset she knew the police had the wrong persons.
“From the start I said I don’t think those boys did it. They grew up in my hands; that act must have been done by persons who are more matured and are hardened criminals,” she said.
