(Trinidad Guardian) A 43-year-old man maintained his innocence even after being convicted of murdering two teenage boys in Tobago, almost 12 years ago.
Alvaro “Josey Wales” Ayers continued to deny any wrongdoing after High Court Judge Althea Alexis-Windsor found him guilty of the double murder at the
completion of his judge-alone trial yesterday.
Before the mandatory death penalty for murder was handed down by Justice Alexis-Windsor during the virtual hearing, Ayers was given an opportunity to briefly address the court.
“I am not guilty,” Ayers said.
Ayers was on trial for the murders of 16-year-old Kolen Salandy and 15-year-old Rondell Thomas.
Salandy and Thomas’ bodies were found in a forested area at French Fort, near Scarborough, Tobago, in September, 2009.
Autopsies revealed that Salandy, a former student of Bishops High School (Tobago), and Thomas, a Form Three student of Signal Hill Secondary Comprehensive School, had both suffered blunt force trauma and their necks were broken.
According to the indictment against Ayers, he was accused of committing the crime with Gary Mohammed.
However, Mohammed was shot and killed in an alleged shootout with police in the Moruga forest before Ayers surrendered to police and was charged.
During the trial, Ayers’ defence attorneys Amerelle Francis and Josiah Soo Hon attempted to raise alleged inconsistencies between the autopsy results and the evidence of some of the State’s main witnesses.
These claims were rejected by Justice Alexis-Windsor in her decision.
