Moruga man freed of 2005 robbery charge

A MORUGA man charged with robbery with violence in 2005 has been acquitted after a judge, sitting in the San Fernando High Court, found him not guilty of the charge on Friday.

Shumba James was acquitted by Justice Gillian Scotland at a judge-only trial. He was before the court for an offence which allegedly took place on July 14, 2005, in Princes Town.

It was James’s third trial. The first ended with an undecided jury in 2008 and the second in 2010 was aborted when the State could not produce one of its main witnesses. His third trial began in July before Scotland.

In 2021, James unsuccessful filed a motion to have the indictment for robbery with aggravation stayed on the basis that 17 years and eight months had passed since the alleged commission of the offence.

It was alleged by the State that James had robbed a woman of jewellery, a laptop, a digital camera and a camcorder.

The total value of the items, at the time, was $150 000.

According to evidence presented by prosecutors, James and another man entered the woman’s home, tied up a maid and made off with items belonging to the maid and the owner of the house.

The only evidence which allegedly linked James to to the robbery was a fingerprint found on a whiskey box in the house. Seven witnesses were called by the prosecution, including two expert witnesses to testify about the key piece of fingerprint evidence.

The owner of the house testified that the purchased the whiskey at the duty-free area of Piarco International airport in April 2005. The bottle allegedly stayed in a cupboard in a bedroom up until it was found on a bed on the day of the alleged robbery. He also testified that his wife's and daughter's jewellery were stolen, including gold bangles, earrings, necklaces and diamond earings which were secured in the bedroom.

The maid allegedly told police she did not have access to the bedroom and on the day of the incident, two men forcefully entered the house with a bolt cutter which was used to cut the locks to a gate to enter the bedroom area of the house.

The State contended although a few fingerprints were found, only one was workable and that allegedly belonged to James. The maid also testified that she was taken into a bedroom, made to lie on her belly with her hands tied behind her back and her face covered with a jersey.

James’s attorney, Selwyn Mohammed, who conducted his defence virtually from home as he is extremely ill, cast doubt on the reliability of the fingerprint evidence and questioned the procedure used to analyse and match the fingerprint found on the whiskey box.

Mohammed contended the evidence lacked scientific proof as there was no testimony of when the fingerprint was found or placed on the whiskey box.

It was also James’s contention that the case against him was fabricated.

At the end of the trial, Scotland found James not-guilty after finding that she could not be sure of the reliability of the fingerprint evidence.

Also appearing with Mohammed, who had to be hospitalised on the day the verdict was delivered, were attorneys Alexia Romero and Kurren Hall.

The State was represented by prosecutors Solange Devenish and Kimberly Gunness.