Nykose Gritten, who was charged with the 2014 murder of Albouystown moneychanger Wendell Liverpool, walked out of the High Court, in Georgetown, a free man yesterday after Justice Navindra Singh upheld a no-case submission made in his favour.
It was alleged that Gritten, between June 20 and June 23, 2014, murdered Liverpool in the furtherance of a robbery.
Liverpool, also called ‘Spence’, of Lot 453 West Ruimveldt Housing Scheme, was said to have been out on the West Ruimveldt main road drinking with his brother and some friends when he was shot and robbed by gunmen on June 20, 2014. He succumbed to multiple gunshot injuries at the Georgetown Hospital three days after.
Having heard the testimony of over eight witnesses over the past week, Justice Singh yesterday accepted no-case submissions made by attorney George Thomas.
As a result, the jury was directed to return a formal verdict of not guilty, which resulted in the case against Gritten being dismissed.
Among those who had testified was Brian Aaron, a friend of the deceased, who had witnessed what had transpired on the night of the incident.
He had told the court that he had encountered Liverpool at a shop in West Ruimveldt and had stopped to catch up with him when he saw three men running down the road, firing gunshots.
Aaron explained that when Liverpool saw what was taking place, he got up from the bench on which they were sitting and “rushed the men” and ended up in a scuffle with his attackers.
It was during this scuffle that one of the gunmen ordered Liverpool to “pass the (expletive) thing,” to which Liverpool responded by saying, “Tek it, nuh!”
Within seconds of Liverpool’s responding to the demand, the scuffle escalated and he was shot before the men ran off in the direction of the West Ruimveldt Fire Station.
He went on to say that after the men ran off, vehicles began to converge on the scene, one of which was a police pick-up. After relating what had transpired, Aaron said that with the assistance of a bystander he placed Liverpool in the tray of the vehicle, which subsequently transported a wounded Liverpool to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he died three days later.
The state’s case was presented by Prosecutor Michael Shahoud in association with Narissa Leander.
