By Sue-Ann Wayow
DONNEL Innis who spent 14 years in prison on a murder charge has been found not guilty after a State’s eye-witness said that he had lied to police about his evidence.
Innis, 34, was cleared of wrongdoing in a Judge Alone Trial before Justice Carla Browne-Antoine last Friday.
He was charged for the murder of Ronald Ettienne that occurred in 2009.
The case for the State was that on the evening of September 23, 2009, Ettienne and a group of persons were liming in the courtyard of Building A, Chafford Court, Port of Spain.
Around 7.30 pm, the accused, in the company of another person approached the group, pointed a firearm at the deceased and a loud explosion was heard.
The deceased fell to the ground and Innis and the other person then stood over the deceased and fired several more shots at him, hitting him all about the body.
Police were contacted and the deceased was rushed to the Port of Spain General Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
The State’s main “eye-see” witness initially gave an interview to the police stating that he had seen Innis shoot the deceased.
However, he repudiated this interview while giving evidence stating that he lied to the police and was subsequently deemed “hostile” by the Court.
Innis, who opted to give no evidence, called one witness in his defence.
The witness stated that on September 30, 2009, she gave the police a statement implicating Shurvan Toussaint in the murder of Michael Madder on Oxford Street, Port of Spain two days earlier.
She said that she received a threatening phone call and was told that if she identified Toussaint as Madder’s killer they would ensure that her brother and Donnel Innis were implicated in Ettienne’s murder.
She said that she still went on a verification exercise at the Central Police Station where she identified Toussaint as the person who shot and killed Madder.
Toussaint was charged with Madder’s murder in October of 2009 and two weeks later gave the police a statement at the Port of Spain prison in which he implicated Innis as Ettienne’s killer. The next day Innis was arrested and charged with Ettienne’s murder.
The Court in its Judgement stated it attributed no weight to Toussaint’s statement as it did not contain his exact words.
Justice Browne-Antoine in her findings, stated, “The gunshot injuries described by the pathologist are inconsistent with the shooting described by Shurvan Toussaint. The pathologist was of the view that the injuries were distant range gunshot wounds, whereas Shurvan Toussaint described the shooters as going right up to Ronald Ettienne and shooting him…”
Regarding the defence witness’ evidence, the Court found her to be an honest witness and believed her evidence of the phone call that she received to deter her from identifying Toussaint as Madder’s killer.
In her ruling Browne-Antione stated, “The Court therefore has a reasonable doubt that the accused shot the deceased on the 23rd September 2009. The case for the state stands and falls on the evidence of Shurvan Toussaint. There is no need to analyze the other evidence at this stage. I find the Accused Not Guilty.”
Attorney Giselle Ferguson-Heller represented the State while Attorneys Stephen Wilson, Renee Atwell and Avionne Bruno-Mason all of the Public Defenders’ Department appeared for the accused.
