By Latrishka Thomas
A man who was on trial for shooting his employee in the mouth has been found guilty.
In March 2018, Desbones St John shot James Elliot at close range leaving him for dead.
The incident took place in Barbuda.
The victim was employed by the defendant but the relationship grew sour when the defendant stopped paying his workers.
The men stopped working for the contractor as a result.
Then on March 25 2018, when Elliot refused to return his work phone because of the outstanding monies, St John slammed him into a truck, placed his firearm on Elliot’s lips and fired the gun.
The bullet went through the victim’s lips, damaged the right side of his jaw and remained lodged in his head.
Elliot was rushed to the hospital by a friend. In the meantime, St John went to the police and told them that a friend of his had been shot and accused someone else of being the perpetrator.
But Elliot lived to tell the story and although he couldn’t speak at the time, he was able to identify his former boss as the shooter.
St John, who was represented by lawyer Wendel Robinson, put forward two defences in the trial.
He argued self-defence and also claimed that it was not intentional.
However, a majority – eight of nine – of the jurors returned a guilty verdict on the charge of shooting with intent to murder.
St John will be sentenced on December 13 by Justice Colin Williams.