By Latrishka Thomas
Prosecutors have agreed to review the file against two murder-accused men after defence attorney Wendel Robinson expressed concern with the case.
Dorian Marshall and Shalom Bailey, both of Donovans, are charged in connection with the murder of Charlesworth Richards Jr, of Liberta, who was gunned down almost five years ago.
But since Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Armstrong – who had conduct of the matter – is presently on leave, another prosecutor agreed to look into Robinson’s concerns and return on April 25 to determine the way forward.
On June 21 2017, spent shells, thousands of marijuana plants and several pounds of cured cannabis were among the items the police took away from the scene at Ras Freeman, Liberta, where Richards was fatally shot.
The police issued an official statement at the time, indicating that the investigators “have so far recovered several spent ammunition shells from the scene. A silver Kia Sportage, believed to have been driven by the deceased, was also found in the Orange Valley area and was taken to Police Headquarters”.
Lawmen also said that 30,938 cannabis plants were found on seven plantations and uprooted, while they found a total of 67 and a quarter pounds of cured cannabis at two separate areas of the property.
It took lawmen from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Narcotics Department, the K-9 Unit, plus the Liberta, All Saints and Dockyard police stations over five hours to uproot, gather the cannabis and remove it from the scene.
Forty-two-year-old Richards, whose identical twin brother Craig Richards mysteriously disappeared in March 2017, was shot multiple times in the upper body and was pronounced dead on the scene near where the police found the drugs and spent shells from the bullets believed to have killed him.
One relative said he was shot in one of his eyes and another part of the face.
The assailants allegedly entered the estate by jumping a back gate. After demanding money and drugs from the men on the scene, they reportedly fled the scene in Richards’ SUV which they used to ram through the locked wooden gate to escape.