Two men walked free from court on Wednesday after a Grand Court jury cleared them of a string of burglary charges.
The seven-strong jury came back after three hours and 20 minutes and delivered unanimous not guilty verdicts on James McLean and Devon Wright.
Justice Emma Peters, after she checked there was nothing else that needed to be dealt with, said, “In that case, gentlemen, you are free to go.”
Inconsistencies in a variety of statements made by main prosecution witness Romario Brown to police, including different times and confusion over clothing worn by the defendants at key points, were highlighted by defence counsel earlier in the trial.
A statement of facts agreed by the defence and prosecution was read to the jury by Crown counsel Shauna-Kaye James on Monday.
The document said that the owner of a targeted house on Anne Bonny Crescent who had surprised the burglars had contacted prosecutors and said he could identify one of the intruders.
A total of 12 photographs were shown to the homeowner on 14 Feb., including one of McLean.
Brown had testified McLean had been in the house with him during the burglary when the owner returned home and caught the raiders red handed.
James told the jury the homeowner did not pick McLean out of the lineup of photographs, but chose an image of another man.
Peters, in her first jury trial in Cayman, told the jury it was up to them to weigh the evidence and decide whether the case against the two had been proven.
She told the jury that Brown was “the main witness, virtually the only witness, in this case”.
Peters warned them, “If you cannot be sure that Romario Brown is telling the truth about any or all of these allegations, then you must find them not guilty.”
Brown, who pleaded guilty to offences in connection with the burglaries and is serving a seven-year sentence, implicated McLean and Wright in the crimes and insisted he had been coerced into taking part.
Wright faced two charges of burglary and one of aggravated burglary, and McLean was charged with one offence of burglary and one of aggravated burglary.
Brown claimed he and Wright committed the first on George Town’s Glen Eden Road on 31 Jan. 2022 and two others just a day later, one on Shamrock Road in Savannah and the other on Anne Bonny Crescent off South Sound Road along with McLean.
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