Stubbs man acquitted of murder charge

Stubbs resident Viv Simon was acquitted of murder this morning after the Prosecution entered a Nolle Prosequi (withdrew case )following the collapse of the case yesterday.

The evidence that linked Simon to the crime came from a witness who is now deceased.

The prosecution made an application to have her deposition read as evidence in the trial.

Lawyer Ronnie Marks who represented Simon did not object but indicated that there were other pretrial statements that were inconsistent with her deposition.

He asked the court to have those put to the jury as evidence to which the judge agreed.

Speaking to ANN, Senior Prosecutor Karim Liverpool said that when counsel Rose ANN Richardson who presented the case for the Crown considered the nature of those inconsistencies coupled with the fact that the witness was not alive to account for them, he was of the view that it would be dangerous for a jury to convict on that evidence.

The inconsistencies were as follows: 1. In her police statement, the witness said that she saw Viv placed a mask (shirt) on his face and only his eyes were visible. He then approached Sutton and shot him.
2. In another statement to the police, she said that Viv approached without a mask, shot Sutton, then place the mask over his face.

3. At the preliminary inquiry, she claimed that his face was not covered with a mask at any point.

Lawyer Ronnie Marks told ANN that the prosecution did the right thing by withdrawing the case against his client. ” You can’t continue a case with so much inconsistencies ” Marks said .

Simon was charged with the murder of Errol Sutton, a 74-year-old resident of Georgetown and Stubbs, who was fatally shot in the head.

Sutton was shot on October 11, 2016 by a lone gunman who fired three shots into the elderly man’s head while he was making his way to the Stubbs Police Station to return an injury/medical report form. Simon told ANN that his feeling happy to be a free man today .

” Am going to spend Christmas with my family and friends, something I wasn’t able to do for the past two years “, Simon said . I hope they find the killer, because I am innocent, he said.

Simon spent over two years in prison awaiting his trial.