Ijaz Enies Dalmage raised his hands towards the ceiling and exclaimed, “Thank you, father God”, after he was found not guilty of a replica gun crime in Grand Court.
The 26-year-old carpenter was accused of pulling a fake pistol from the waistband of his shorts and making death threats to 50-year-old mason Byran Curtis Smith in George Town on 22 April.
But after four hours of deliberation on Friday, 28 July, the seven jurors said he was not in possession of an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence.
On the opening day of the trial on 25 July, Smith said Dalmage had approached him on a bicycle outside Reflections Liquor 4 Less and hit him twice on his chest with his left hand.
He then said the defendant raised his shirt, pulled out a gun from his waistband and, without pointing it at him, said, “Hey boy Blacks, I’ve come for kill you.”
The witness told the court there were other people in the parking lot who ran when they saw the weapon, as Dalmage continued to make threats to his life over several minutes.
“I was speechless. I couldn’t move,” he said. “I was there for like three minutes, just standing and just looking like I was lost, because someone never point a gun at me before.”
But when Dalmage gave his evidence, he told the court he never struck Smith and only had a work hammer tucked into his shorts which he kept there because his pockets were shallow.
He said he did not know Smith would be there, did not make any threats, and became scared when he was accused of having a gun in case someone shot and killed him.
The defendant broke down in tears as he spoke of an alleged altercation at the West Bay construction site where the men had worked together over a year prior.
He described being “beat up” by Smith and others who thought he had attacked a female co-worker.
However, Dalmage said the woman had pushed him off scaffolding after a disagreement and had got injured accidentally in the process, when a tool he was holding struck her in the face as he fell.
Smith denied hitting the defendant, but admitted calling him “wicked” several times, and claimed the gun threats outside the liquor shop on Eastern Avenue were in retaliation for that.
Meanwhile, Dalmage said Smith made had false accusations about him carrying a gun to pay him back for what he thought he did to their colleague.
He told the court he never had anything to do with guns, never possessed a gun or imitation gun, or spent time with people with guns.
Prosecuting the case was Orrett Brown and defence counsel was Jonathon Hughes, while Justice Cheryll Richards presided over the trial.
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