Jahryl Reid yesterday walked out of court a free man after a jury found him not guilty of murdering Mabura businessman Colin McLean.
After about two hours of deliberations, the 12-member jury returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty on the counts of murder and manslaughter, on which it was given directions by the trial judge, Justice Jo-ann Barlow.
The charge against Reid, 22, was that on April 27, 2014, he murdered McLean, 52, at Mabura, Upper Demerara River.
He had denied the charge.
When called upon to lead his defence, Reid who had opted to do so via sworn testimony from the witness stand, did not deny inflicting the fatal injuries on McLean but contended that he was defending himself.
According to his caution statement, which was admitted into evidence at the trial, Reid admitted to battering the businessman in the head with a piece of wood, after the man attempted to rape him.
Reid, in the statement to police, said that McLean, a shop owner, whom he knew, had asked him to go to his Mabura residence to complete building a shelf for him.
The young man had noted to police that it was while he was preparing to leave McLean’s residence that the man attempted to sodomise him.
The former accused, who according to his statement claimed to have been previously raped by McLean, told investigators that at the time he dealt the deceased the fatal blows, he was trying to prevent the man off from committing the act on him again.
The state was represented by prosecutors Shawnette Austin and Siand Dhurjon. Reid, meanwhile, was represented by defence attorney Madan Kissoon.
The trial was heard at the High Court in Georgetown.
