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Twenty-four year-old Andy Adams, of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, who was on trial for the Rosignol sawmill murder which occurred in 2007, on Thursday walked out of the Berbice High Court a free man, after the jury returned unanimous verdicts of not guilty of murder or manslaughter.Freed: Andy AdamsAdams was on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a mixed jury for the July 20, 2007 murder of Nizamudeen Khan, 56, a security guard attached to the sawmill.Adams who was jointly charged with Sebastian Cleto, who was killed in a prison brawl, smiled and shook his head as he exchanged a ‘high five’ with his lawyer Joel Persid Edmond, before quickly exiting the court.Justice Singh had earlier summed up the evidence to the jury which returned in the afternoon with the verdicts. The judge had on Tuesday overruled the defence’s no case submission and had called on Adams to lead a defence.In an unsworn statement from the dock, the accused had stated that it was Cleto and another friend named Cox who had problems with the watchman at the sawmill. He said that he “tried to part them”, but afterwards he left and ran away. He said that he never injured the watchman nor did he give a statement. He had no witness as the defence closed its case.His lawyer, in addressing the jury, had asked them to disbelieve the evidence that Adams had given any statement. He stated that the prosecution had failed to prove a case against his client. He also stated that the prosecution had failed to establish where Sebastian Cleto is. The lawyer also told the jury that the prosecution did not show or establish which blow killed Khan.In her submissions, State Prosecutor Judith Gildharie-Mursalin said that the defence did not put forward any evidence to establish that any other person hit the deceased. She mentioned that six years after the crime, Adams is now saying that it was Cleto and Cox who had hit Khan. She queried why he did not say so, sixteen days after the incident, when he gave his statement. She urged the jury not to believe his story.The prosecutor mentioned the post mortem report which stated that Khan was brutally beaten to death. She had also stated that prosecution witness, retired Sergeant Simon Johnson, during his evidence had stated that he had put the allegation of murder to both Adams and Cleto, who is now deceased.She submitted that what Adams was now doing is putting the blame on a dead man, because dead men carry no tales. She also mentioned that the accused did give a statement.The prosecution had called four witnesses – Ex-Sergeant Simon Johnson, Detective Corporals Duke Jacques and Mark Fraser and Detective Lance Corporal Dinesh Baichu.The accused was employed at a sawmill and resided in the compound. He and his friends had allegedly gone out and upon their return had a misunderstanding with Khan, the guard, who refused to open the gate. Khan subsequently opened the gate and when the men entered they had a fight. Khan was severely injured and was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died a few days later.Both Adams and Cleto were allegedly injured in a fight with other inmates after a misunderstanding in prison. Cleto was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he subsequently died, while Adams was treated at the New Amsterdam Hospital.Four men were subsequently charged. However, one, Jason Mc Kenzie, 23, of Rosignol, West Bank Berbice was committed to stand trial in the High Court. Another, Rickford La Fleur,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, escaped from prison.The post mortem examination, conducted on July 26, 2007, by Dr. Nehaul Singh, gave the cause of death as cerebral hemorrhage, due to a fractured skull and brain bronchopneumonia and plueritis. |
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