When we left you on Friday night, a jury of 12 was deliberating the fate of Lusby Martinez who was charged with murder for the grenade attack which killed 14 year-old Rudolph Flowers.
On December 28, 2009, someone threw a grenade at the corner of Kraal Road and Haynes Street at around 7 p.m. Rudolph Flowers was standing in the blast range, and shrapnel from the grenade penetrated his heart and ended up killing him. A written statement from a deceased prosecution witness was the main piece of evidence against Lusby Martinez in the case, and after 5 hours of deliberation, the jury emerged with a verdict of not guilty.
Martinez, who was in jail for 5 years awaiting trial, finally exited court a free man. We spoke with his attorney outside about his acquittal:
Simeon Sampson, SC - Attorney for Defence
"On the 28th of December 2009 about 7 o' clock, a hand grenade was hurled into a yard at the corner of Haynes Street and Kraal Road. The grenade exploded and as a result, 2 persons were injured and one was fatally killed. On the following morning, a Peter Myvette was arrested upon suspicion. He gave a statement to the police implicating this client Martinez. Martinez was arrested the following day and subsequently charged for this murder. Peter Myvette who did the initial revelation was not charged at all. Coincidentally, this boy was to have been tried last April but unfortunately Mister Lucas fell ill. And I would not like to comment any further because the judge himself mentioned it. That it's unfortunate that he got ill last year and thus, bring Martinez to that extent was deprived of trial 13 months earlier."
Daniel Ortiz
"Okay now sir, do you believe that after listening to all the evidence in this case that justice was served?"
Simeon Sampson, SC - Attorney for Defence
"I would say so, because there was absolutely no evidence at all outside the statement of this dead witness. There was no forensic evidence to connect Lusby Martinez to the scene. There was no evidence out of the scene linking Martinez. So all we had was evidence of an absent person and the judge was very meticulous to giving strict instructions to the jury in circumstances like these."
Crown Counsels Shanice Lovell and Portia Staine prosecuted the case against Martinez.
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