Orpheus Johnson, accused of the 2009 murder of Brendon Charles, was yesterday freed in the High Court by Justice James Bovell-Drakes after a no-case submission was upheld in his favour.
Justice Bovell-Drakes set Johnson free after his attorney Latchmie Rahamat made a no-case submission on his behalf, stating that there was an insufficiency of evidence by the prosecution after state counsel Natasha Backer closed her case last week.
After listening to the grounds of the defence’s submission, Justice Bovell-Drakes upheld the application and proceeded to ask the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
It was alleged that between April 7 and April 8, 2009, at Kaneville, Johnson murdered Charles, whose body was discovered in a yard several streets away from his Lot 914 Fourth Field, Kaneville home.
The accused was 21 years at the time of the crime and formerly resided at Lot 13 First Street, Craig, East Bank Demerara.
