Moruga man found not guilty of 2005 murder

A jury has acquitted a Moruga man of a murder that took place in the village in 2005 after evidence was produced at the trial that suggested someone else could have been the killer.

Lincoln Marshall, 55, of Preau Village, Moruga, was found not guilty by a jury deliberating for over an hour on October 18.

This was Marshall’s second trial. His first, in 2018, ended in a hung jury and a retrial was ordered.

He was before Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas charged with the murder of David Baptiste on June 10, 2005.

The State had alleged that Baptiste was at home with his four children, common-law wife and her son when two men ran into his house asking for “the money and the weed.”

Baptiste was then shot in the leg. He was dragged out of his house and shot in the head.

The State’s case relied on the identification evidence of two of Baptiste’s children who were eight and ten years old at the time. They testified they saw a “Rasta” man and a baldheaded man, who they allegedly recognised as a next-door neighbour, commit the acts.

However, the defence pointed out that the evidence at the trial showed the house and surrounding area had no electricity and the only source of light in the house was a kerosene lamp.

Several police witnesses, including the officer who charged Marshall, testified that after the shooting, the witnesses named several suspects, one of whom was identified as “Mikey.”

This man was detained on the night of the murder and his hands were swabbed for gunpowder residue. However, he was released from custody long before the police retrieved a certificate of analysis from the Forensic Science Centre which confirmed the presence of nitrates (gunpowder residue) on his hands.

This certificate of analysis was only produced at Marshall’s second trial which took place at the O’Meara Judicial Centre, Arima.

Marshall maintained he was not in Preau Village on the night of the murder. He voluntarily went to the St Mary’s police post on June 13, 2005, after he heard the police were looking for him.

When confronted with the allegation, he told officers he was in Princes Town having beers at Coolers Bar, opposite Bonanza Street, before going to Royal Castle.

When cross-examined by Marshall’s attorneys Renuka Rambhajan and Marissa Bubb, officers involved in the investigation admitted they did not visit either location to check his alibi before charging him.

State attorneys Maria Lyons and Kimberly Ganess represented the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.