With the prosecution unable to locate a witness who was key in establishing a prima facie case against Matthew Munroe for the 2017 murder of school teacher Kescia Branche, the former-accused has been freed.
Following his arraignment yesterday morning, a jury was empaneled to hear Munroe’s case.
After the trial got underway and continued yesterday afternoon, however, Prosecutor Muntaz Ali disclosed that the State could not produce one of its main witnesses who was key in establishing a nexus between the accused and the crime.
That witness was material to the circumstantial case the prosecution had built against Munroe.
Justice Sandil Kissoon commended the prosecution for its “full and frank” disclosure, but noted that it would have failed in making out its case against Munroe.
In the circumstances, Justice Kissoon directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty in favour of the former taxi driver, which saw him being discharged and cleared of the capital offence.
Munroe, 52, was represented by a battery of attorneys led by Dexter Todd and Dexter Smartt.
The indictment against him to which he had pleaded not guilty, was that he murdered the 22-year-old Richard Ishmael Secondary School teacher on November 7th, 2017, at Georgetown.
Branche, a mother of one, was found unconscious and badly wounded on the morning of November 5th, 2017, along Cemetery Road, obliquely opposite the cemetery office, in Georgetown.
She succumbed to her injuries two days later while in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the George-town Public Hospital.
An autopsy later revealed that she died as a result of brain haemorrhaging and blunt trauma to the brain.
