Jury frees man accused of Pegasus taxi driver’s murder
By Shemuel Fanfair
After several weeks appearing before a judge in connection with the murder of Pegasus taxi driver Rubranauth Jeeboo, the former accused, Lorenzo Forde, was freed of the capital offence, following his acquittal by a 12-member jury.
This means that the 21-year-old man will be able to spend the Christmas holidays with his family after spending three years incarcerated.
A smiling Lorenzo Forde who was freed of the murder charge
The jury’s decision to free Forde came after just two hours of deliberation following the summing up of the case by Justice Brassington Reynolds, who presided over the matter.
According to reports, on December 27, 2013, Jeeboo left his Campbellville, Georgetown home for work, and the following day, around 07:50h, his body was discovered with several injuries in a heap of garbage at Caneview Avenue.
Forde was 17 years old when he was accused of the man’s murder.
During the course of the weeks-long trial, the jury heard that there was no image taken of the interior of the deceased man’s Toyota Allion motor car. This had been revealed by former Policewoman Delicia Browne, who told the Court that she was not asked to take photographs of the vehicle’s interior.
Later on in the trial, Police Sergeant Jomo Williams, who was the principal investigator for the taxi driver’s murder, had admitted to the Court that he never took fingerprints from the accused, because he was not asked to. The Police witness had further stated that he could not recall if any other evidence was taken from the car besides the fingerprints.
The jury also had to consider that during the Policeman’s testimony, he had noted that to his knowledge, none of the prints found had matched those of the man who was on trial. The Police witness did, however, point out that some of the prints matched another accused, whose name was called out in court. Forde was initially charged with another accused, Shawn Edinboro, who was absolved of the crime by way of being discharged at the end of proceedings in the Magistrate’s Court more than two years ago.
State Counsels Shawnette Austin, Lisa Cave and Tiffini Lyken presented the prosecution’s case while Forde was represented by defence counsels Hewley Griffith and Rachael Bakker.
