Alvin Reid called ‘Stan’ was yesterday afternoon acquitted of the 2016 murder of 14-year-old Malika Hamilton.
Following hours of deliberations, the 12-member jury returned a unanimous verdict, finding Reid not guilty of the allegation that he had murdered Hamilton between August 8th and August 9th, 2016, at Hope, East Coast Demerara.
Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall who presided over the trial at the High Court in Demerara informed a visibly relieved Reid that he was therefore discharged.
Following the conclusion of a preliminary inquiry back in 2018, Magistrate Peter Hugh had discharged Reid after ruling that the State had not presented enough evidence linking him to the crime.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, however, using her constitutional powers at the time, ordered the Magistrate to commit the then-accused to face a High Court trial before a judge and jury
Reid’s defence team was led by attorney Konyo Sandiford, while the State’s case was presented by Prosecutor Muntaz Ali.
Police had said that Hamilton and Reid, who were known to each other, had gone for a swim in the Hope Canal on August 8th, which was the last day she was seen alive. She was later found floating in the canal on August 9th.
Her body was found several miles away from the Hope Canal Bridge by residents of the community who had ventured into the canal to swim.
A post-mortem examination revealed that she died from asphyxia due to drowning.
Hamilton, of Lot 11 Two Sisters Village, East Coast Demerara, had left home following an argument over the telephone with her father and did not return.
Reid who managed to elude the police after being identified as a suspect, was eventually found hiding in a barrel in the Anns Grove cemetery a week later.
