On January 29th Nikolai Rhys became the second person to be tried without a jury. And today, 18 days after his trial started, it ended. He was pronounced not guilty of the murder of Andree Trapp. And so after more than two and a half years on remand, he was set free. 7news was at the courthouse and here's the story:
Daniel Ortiz reporting
22 year-old Nicholi Rhys stood before the Chief Justice, in a case prosecuted by the Director of Public Prosecutions, and was still acquitted today of one of the biggest murder trials in Belize's history.
His mother, a senior police officer, was no doubt happy to see his son freed, and to have her family's reputation remain untarnished.
For the first time in more than 2 years and 8 months, Rhys was able to leave the court house, and go home with his family a free man.
And they took advantage of that freedom in its fullest and vacated as quickly as possible to get away from the cameras.
But the road to that freedom today was a tedious one in which Rhys and his attorney, Simeon Sampson, had to defend against all the evidence put forward to the court by DPP Cheryl-Lynn Vidal. After all, he was accused of the sensational street execution of Reputed SSG Leader, Andre Trap on June 10, 2010.
It is forever etched in country's history that on that date, Andre Trapp was leaving the court house for his adjournment, and when he approaching his vehicle, a gunman shot him dead in front of the edifice representing law, order, and above all, security.
And while everyone appreciates the importance and the impact of this crime, in the trial was about what the prosecution was able to prove.
Rhys' attorney says that the evidence presented to the court was far from enough to leap to the conclusion that he was guilty:
Simeon Sampson - Attorney For the Defence
"The evidence against Nicholi was the testimony of a police man Arnold who said that he saw Nicholi's face for about 2-3 seconds out there. What kill the case for the persecution was that 4 hours after this incident on the same day when PC Arnold was interviewing his investigating officer he made absolutely no mention that he had seen the face of this boy who exited from the left hand side - he didn't know this person at all. Then there was no identification parade was done, so the Chief Justice identified those critical issues and those issues put the court in a reasonable doubt and he had to acquit Nicholi."
So, while the trial had to proceed to completion, observers of the case believe that the prosecution's case depended greatly on that alleged confession statement which was thrown out.
So, there is a possibility that there may be a part two:
Simeon Sampson - Attorney For the Defence
"I will leave it to the Court Of Appeal."
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