Man not guilty of murdering son

Minutes after a jury found 62-year-old Frank Gill not guilty of the 2007 murder of his son, Gill blamed Satan for the high murder rate in the country.

“The country is in a mess right now.

Satan finds a way to get into the system to have this set of killings,” Gill told reporters outside the San Fernando High Court on Wednesday afternoon.

Last month, Gill of St Mary’s Village in Moruga, went on trial before Justice Carla Brown-Antoine and a 12-member jury charged with murdering 25-year-old Italo James.

The State contended that on May 27, 2007, James left his home at Simon Trace to go to his marijuana field.

His common-law wife Kathy Ann Andrews heard a loud explosion shortly after.

She then received a “call me” request from James. She called James who allegedly identified Gill as the shooter. She met with the then injured man who allegedly said: “Is Frank. Frank shoot. Ah feel I eh go make it. Allyuh tell the police what I telling allyuh.” James died on June 4, 2007, at the San Fernando General Hospital.

Sixteen days later, Gill surrendered at the St Mary’s police post and was subsequently charged.

The state relied on the last words of the victim to prove its case.

However, the defence’s case was that Gill was elsewhere and did not commit the crime. On Wednesday, after deliberating for about an 90 minutes, the jury returned with the not guilty verdict.

Gill criticised the judicial system and said he intends to sue the state for the 11 years he spent in custody. “The system has innocent people in jail. Is real madness going on in jail.

The youths and them suffering in the jail because of the system. The judiciary not helping nobody. I just glad to be free,” Gill said.

The father of nine and grandfather of eight said he was looking forward to seeing his family. Attorneys Stacy Laloo-Chong and Shabaana Khan prosecuted while Rekha Ramjit and Jared Ali defended Gill.