Two freed of murdering PH taxi driver

Two men have been freed on charges of murdering PH taxi driver Earl St Bernard in 2014.

Kcyz James and Emmanuel Bowen were discharged on Thursday by acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle who upheld a no-case submission by their lawyers.

The two were before the court for killing St Bernard on September 24, at Waterhole, Cocorite.

The 32-year-old PH taxi driver, who was also known by the nickname Jesse James, was gunned down where he was working, in an area known as the Cave.

His body was found in a ravine and police at the time said it appeared he ran out of the car, leaving it running.

In her ruling on the no-case submission, the Earle-Caddle said the court had reservations on the evidence of the main witness Sherwin Hunte who was described by the defence as an “eye-see witness” but who did not see the killing.

Defence lawyers Kelston Pope and Kashif Forbes also argued there were several inconsistencies in the witness’s testimony. The witness only showed up in court on Wednesday.

At the preliminary inquiry, the prosecution tendered several statements in accordance with provisions of the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Inquiry) Act and also sought to have the main witness’s statement tendered since at the time they could not find him.

On Monday, Earle-Caddle ruled that the steps taken by the police to find Hunte were not sufficient to meet the criteria under the act and adjourned the matter to Wednesday, when Hunte shocked everyone by showing up in court just after lunch.

On being cross-examined by the defence, he admitted that he was not able to see the faces of St Bernard’s killers.