‘Two Colours’ murder trial ends in hung jury

May 03, 2017 Court Stories, Features / Columnists, News

By Rehanna Ramsay

Even after six hours of deliberations and further directions from Judge Jo-Ann Barlow, the jury selected to oversee the trial of Lennox Wayne called ‘Two Colours,’ and his co-accused, Melroy Doris, was unable to reach a verdict in relation to the murder of cosmetologist, Ashmini Harriram.
Harriram was shot once to the neck moments after she disembarked a minibus along the Lusignan Railway Embankment, East Coast Demerara on Thursday, July 10, 2014.
On the day of the incident, the shooter reportedly exited a burgundy-coloured motorcar, whipped out a gun, shot the teen then took away her mobile phone and left the scene.
Wayne and Doris, a taxi driver, were subsequently arrested and charged with the murder. Their trial commenced last month.
In her summing up yesterday, Justice Barlow pointed to the evidence presented by the witnesses, giving the panel directions on matters of fact and law.
The jury retired at around 11:00 hours and returned almost four hours later for further directions on issues relating to the evidence presented in the trial.
Members of the panel inquired about an alleged alibi in which the number one accused, (Wayne) is said to have been at the headquarters of the Police Tactical Services Unit (TSU) at the time of the shooting.
The panel also raised questions about marks of violence, Wayne is said to have sustained during the police interrogation.
The jury retired a second time at a little after 16:00 hours.
The atmosphere in the courtroom remained tense towards the end of the trial.
When the panel re-emerged, they initially announced that there was a unanimous not guilty verdict for murder. The pronouncement caused the accused, Lennox Wayne who stood a short distance away in the prisoner’s dock, to breathe sighs of relief. But there was a misunderstanding on the part of the jury regarding the term “unanimous.”
It was, therefore, explained to them that the word meant that the entire 12-member panel had agreed to a common outcome of the trial — that the accused was not guilty of the offence.
It was after this explanation that the foreperson disclosed that the panel could not reach a common verdict for any of the accused in relation to the offence that they were charged.
The trial judge then informed the accused that the jury could not determine whether they were guilty or not guilty of murder. She explained that the hung jury meant that they “will have to remain in custody and undergo another trial during another session of the Demerara Criminal Assizes”.
During the trial, both Wayne and Doris pleaded their innocence before the court. They were represented by Attorneys -at- Law Nigel Hughes and Stanley Moore, respectively.
A number of witnesses were called to the stand by State Prosecutors, Tamieka Clarke, Shawnette Austin and Mandel Moore. The witnesses included Police Detective Lakeram Datt.
Detective Datt read the caution statement of Lennox Wayne to the court. The statement outlined that Wayne had told the investigators that he was contracted to do the job.
According to the information, Wayne disclosed that he met Doris on the day of the incident, at Bent Street, in Georgetown. During their meeting, Wayne said that Doris told him of a job that he had for him and that he would be paid $2.5 million when it was completed.
But the defence dismissed that the statement put forward by the police witness as unauthentic and concocted.
Defence Attorney Hughes had originally claimed that Wayne was tortured and forced to give a statement.
There were additional claims by the defence that the charges were brought against the accused after he acted as an informant in another investigation involving members of the Police Force.
But in her address to the jury, Prosecutor Clarke had asked the panel to disregard the theory put forward by Wayne that he was arrested and charged with the murder after the police found out he had filtered information about a few officers in relation to a similar investigation.
She noted that Wayne had supplied the information eight months after he was in custody. Clarke said it is her view that he decided to squeal on the officers to possibly get a deal, given that he was already in jail for the murder of Harriram.
“He didn’t go to the police with this information, he went to the media first and then the police contacted him afterwards. This was eight months after his arrest. He was already in jail,” the Prosecutor had said.
Clarke also noted that Wayne had no visible scars on his arms. “Surely the marks would have still been visible,” she stated.