Michael Britton, also known as “Rasta Man,” who was on trial for the fatal beating of another man in the North West District, was yesterday freed after a jury found him not guilty.
Britton was visibly relieved when Justice James Bovell-Drakes, who presided over the trial in the High Court, informed him that he was free to go. Before being freed of his shackles and handcuffs, Britton thanked the jury, which acquitted him in the murder of Refford Williams after about an hour of deliberations.
The charge against Britton was that on July 25, 2013, at 10 Miles Backdam, Port Kaituma, North West District, he murdered Williams, 26, called “Kamarang.”
It was the prosecution’s case that the men were involved in an altercation, during which the deceased sustained injuries.
Williams, a miner, was badly beaten with a piece of metal and a post-mortem examination revealed that he died as a result of a ruptured spleen due to blunt trauma.
The police had said that Williams was involved in an argument with a man, during which he was struck about his body with a piece of metal. He was later pronounced dead on arrival at the Port Kaituma Hospital.
Britton, who had always maintained his innocence, was represented by attorneys Ronald Burch-Smith and Keoma Griffith.
The state’s case, meanwhile, was presented by Mandel Moore.
