KINGSTON, Jamaica— A 43-year-old vendor from Washington Boulevard, St Andrew, was on Friday freed in the Supreme Court of all charges stemming from a robbery at gunpoint which took place outside a bar on December 30 last year.
It was alleged that the vendor held up a taxi operator with a gun outside a bar along the Boulevard main road and robbed him of an undisclosed sum of money while he was about to drive off.
The taxi operator was not able to identify the accused.
However, a policeman, who at the time was in the taxi but who made no effort to foil the robbery for fear of his life, four days later, while on police patrol, identified the vendor as the man who committed the robbery.
The vendor was arrested and charged but denied being involved in any crime.
In giving evidence, however, the policeman was challenged as to his credibility by King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie, lawyer for the vendor.
During cross-examination, Champagnie pointed to several inconsistencies between the policeman’s testimony and the statement he had written in relation to the incident.
The vendor gave evidence and called a witness, who testified about his good character.
In freeing the accused, the trial judge noted that the policeman’s testimony did not rise to the level of making the court feel sure of the guilt of the vendor. The vendor had been in custody since January 4, 2024.