Convicted murderer Mark Royden Williams along with his co-accused Sherwin Nero were today acquitted of the 2007 murder of Cove and John resident Kumar Singh called `Mango Man’.
Williams, called ‘Smallie’ and Nero, called ‘Catty,’ were charged with murdering Singh on August 30th, 2007, at Lot 51 Craig Milne, Cove and John, East Coast Demerara. A third man, Andrew Philander, called ‘Junior’ and ‘Gadget,’ was also arrested for the murder but he perished in a fire set by inmates at the Camp Street Prison in March of 2016.
The trial continued yesterday before Justice James Bovell-Drakes who undertook the summation for the benefit of the jury who then retired to the jury room for deliberations.
However, several hours after they retired, the jury returned to the court for further direction in the case, which was given by Judge.
One hour later they were able to return to the court room and deliver two unanimous not guilty verdicts in favour of Williams and Nero.
And while, relatives of the accused were expressively happy with the outcome of the verdict, relatives of the deceased left the courtroom teary-eyed.
But though the two men were acquitted of the charge, they remain in custody as the court heard that Nero had other matters pending before the court while Williams was one of two persons convicted and sentenced to death for the February 17th, 2008 Bartica massacre in which 12 men were killed.
A jury had found him guilty of seven of the 12 murders and guilty of manslaughter for the remainder. For the murders, he was read the death penalty and given life sentences on the lesser convictions.
Nero and Williams were represented by attorney Nigel Hughes while the state’s case was presented by Tiffini Lyken and Tameika Clarke.
