Government Senator and Deputy Speaker of the house of assembly Ashelle Morgan and Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Karim Nelson have been acquitted of charges brought against them stemming from an incident at Diamond Estate on April 13th, 2021 in which Cornelius John was shot in the leg.
In commenting on the outcome of the case, lawyer Kay Bacchus-Baptiste who held a watching brief in the matter and is representing John in another matter arising from the April 13th incident, said while she predicted the outcome it is a sad day not only for her client but for the people of St.Vincent and the Grenadines.
Baptiste said in all her years as a lawyer she has never seen a key witness being left out of a criminal case, and attributed this as the main reason for the dismissal of the case against Morgan and Nelson.
According to Baptiste the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have been denied justice and a terrible precedent has been set.
Bacchus-Baptiste is also of the view the matter was not properly investigated and said it is a travesty of justice however she is awaiting the case against her client who has been charged for threatening the government senator.
Trial was Totally fair
One of the defense lawyers, Ronald Mark, told SVGTV News that three days were set aside for the conclusion of the case and the prosecution doubled the time to present the evidence they had against their clients which he said were weak.
Marks suggested that in the future police respond to reports of domestic violence in a more timely manner as he cited some of the evidence which were presented in court against Cornelius John who was the alleged victim in the matter.
Asked whether he believes the trial was a fair one, the veteran defense lawyer said totally.
