Neville Forde, one of two men charged with the 2017 murder of Sophia bread vendor Andre Melroy Alexander, yesterday learned that he will have to face a retrial after a 12-member jury failed to arrive at a unanimous verdict at the conclusion of his trial.
After a little more than two hours of deliberation following the summation of evidence in the trial by Justice Navindra Singh at the High Court in Georgetown, the jury returned deadlocked, 11 to 1 in favour of guilty.
Forde was then informed by Justice Singh that a new trial would have to be held.
The accused was then remanded to prison.
Prosecutors Teriq Mohamed, Tuanna Hardy and Sarah Martin led the state’s case during the trial, while attorney Adrian Thompson represented Forde.
A second man, Shaquille Grant, who was also charged with the murder, was freed on Monday after Justice Singh upheld a no-case submission made by his attorney Nigel Hughes.
Alexander, known as ‘Alex’ and ‘Bread Man,’ 42, a father of two of Lot 394 Section C, Sophia, succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital hours after he was shot once in his stomach by one of two bandits, who posed as customers and held him at gunpoint.
