“Fifty” freed of 2018 murder

Magistrate Wanda Fortune on Wednesday ruled that there was insufficient evidence in the case against Lindener, Travis Hazel, called “Fifty”, who was accused of murdering 55-year-old Leroy Barron on September 15, 2018, at Co-op Crescent, Mackenzie, Linden.

The Magistrate ruled that a no case submission was upheld, thereby discharging the case against the defendant thus rendering him free to go when the case was called at the Linden Magistrate’s Court.
Hazel, of 24 Silvercity, Wismar, Linden, was represented by Counsel Stanley Moore while Police Prosecutor Vernetté Pindar had represented the State.
In his submissions to the court, Moore argued that there was no evidence presented against his client for a prima facie case to be made out against him or to warrant a committal for the offence of murder.
He argued that none of the witnesses who testified in the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) gave any evidence linking the accused to the offence. The final witness, Esme Griffith, took to the stand on Wednesday shortly before the magistrate gave her ruling.
A clearly relieved Hazel walked calmly out the court’s dock after he was told that he was free to go.

Several witnesses have testified since the commencement of the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) on March 26, including the brother of the deceased, Kevin Barron, former ambulance attendant, Fiona Mingo, Police Corporals Tyrone Van Hearsel and Omyanna Layne, Police Constables Alex Sancharie and Devon Greene.
An Engineer, Rawle Watson, and a clothes vendor, Romain Haynes, were among the others who testified.
The allegations were that on the day in question, while at Co-op Crescent, Mackenzie, Linden, Hazel inflicted injuries upon the deceased during an altercation, which resulted in his death.
Initial investigations had revealed that there was an argument between Barron, who was known to do odd jobs around the market.