A Kitty, Georgetown man who spent almost five years on remand on a murder charge for which he accuses the Police of “falsifying evidence” against him was found not guilty last week Wednesday and is now planning to sue the State.
Pascale Smith is now a free man after Demerara High Court Judge Brassington Reynold upheld a no-case submission made on his behalf by his lawyer, Siand Dhurjon, and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.
Smith was charged with murdering John Heckert Hutson of Austin Street, Kitty, Georgetown between April 31 and May 27, 2017, at Alexander Street, Kitty.
Dhurjon explained that the prosecution’s case against Smith was that during the dark morning hours of April 31, 2017, he beat Hutson mercilessly on the road in front of the Avon building on Alexander Street by stamping him on the ground and by pelting a brick at his head until he was motionless.
The lawyer said the prosecution contended that an eyewitness ran to the Kitty Police Station and made a report and Hutson, while unconscious, was taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he died over three weeks later.
A post mortem examination revealed that the 40-year-old man died from cerebral haemorrhage as a result of blunt trauma to the head.
According to Dhurjon, his client was arrested at his home by the Police on June 5, 2017, and was placed on an identification parade at the Kitty Police Station where he was positively identified as the killer by an eyewitness to the killing.
At the end of a Preliminary Inquiry (PI), a city magistrate committed Smith to stand trial on the charge for the capital offence after finding that a prima facie case was made out against him at the close of the prosecution’s case.
Smith’s trial commenced last month before Justice Reynolds and a jury.
Smith’s lawyer informed that on February 10, the 25-year-old eyewitness was called to testify during which he said he could not recall the date of the murder.
The lawyer said the eyewitness told the court that he could not remember any incident that occurred in 2017.
“Eventually, [the witness] explained that sometime in 2017 a Police detective by the name ‘Chapman’ encouraged and caused him to sign a paper and caused him to attend the identification parade and to point out Smith,” Dhurjon said.
While under cross-examination, Dhurjon said that the witness explained that he never knew Pascale Smith or John Hutson.
Counsel said, too, that the witness clarified that he never witnessed any incident but because he was a member of the Kitty Community Policing Group, ‘Chapman’ told him that “he had to cooperate and help the Police”.
According to Dhurjon, the witness told the court that the first time he saw Smith was on the identification (ID) parade. Because he was afraid to be on the ID parade, Dhurjon said the witness testified that ‘Chapman’ gave him a hoodie and sunshades to wear so that he would be comfortable pointing his client.
“[The witness] said that on the identification parade the men were of different races, heights, and complexions. He said that Pascale Smith was the only one with high hair almost like an afro at the identification parade,” the lawyer said.
Smith had been on remand for the murder of Hutson for almost five years since 2017 and made headlines in July 2017 when he escaped from Lusignan Prison and was later apprehended in a pit latrine toilet at Barr Street, Kitty.
Meanwhile, Dhurjon disclosed that his client intends to sue the State for the Police’s role in falsifying evidence against him.
