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Kitty man walks free of murder charge after witness recants testimony – DPP to appeal decision
By Renay Sambach
Kaieteur News – Twenty-nine-year-old Pascale Smith called “Pop Skull” of Barr Street, Kitty, Georgetown was freed of a 2017 murder charge after the eyewitness, who had identified him as the suspect in the case recanted his entire testimony – in light of this, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC, has signalled her intentions to appeal the court’s decision.
Smith was on trial for the murder of John Heckert Hutson, a Rastafarian resident of Kitty. He was charged for murdering Hutson on May 27, 2017, on a parapet on Alexander St, Kitty, Georgetown.
Freed: Pascal Smith.
His trial commenced in the Demerara Assizes on January 18, 2021, before Justice Brassington Reynolds. The case was prosecuted by Counsel from the DPP office, Seeta Bishundial, and Lisa Cave, and Smith was represented by attorney-at-law Siand Dhurjon.
On Wednesday, February 16, 2022, Justice Reynolds upheld a no-case submission that was made to the court by Smith’s lawyer.
The prosecution’s case against Smith was that during the dark morning hours of April 31, 2017, he had beaten Hutson mercilessly on the road in front of the Avon building on Alexander Street in Kitty by stamping him on to the ground and by pelting a brick to his head until he was motionless.
An eyewitness had run to the Kitty Police Station and reported the matter, while Hutson was taken in an unconscious state to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). Hutson was hospitalised for over a month until he succumbed on May 27, 2017.
A post-mortem examination revealed that Hutson suffered from severe damage to the brain and lungs. The 40-year-old man died from cerebral haemorrhage as a result of blunt trauma to the head.
Following Hutson’s death, Smith was arrested at his home and was positively identified as the suspect by an eyewitness on an identification parade at the Kitty Police Station.
Later that year, Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, found that there was sufficient evidence against Smith for him to stand trial in the High Court for murder.
However, on February 10, 2022, when eyewitness Budhu Persaud, 25, also a resident of the Kitty area, was called to the stand to testify in the murder case, he recanted his testimony.
When asked if he remembered the date of the incident, Persaud told the court “no”. When asked if he remembered any incident in 2017 when he had cause to interact with the police he also said, “no”. Persaud then explained that sometime during the year, a police detective by the name of “Chapman” encouraged and caused him to sign a paper and also caused him to attend the identification parade and to point out Smith.
While being cross-examined by Dhurjon, Persaud explained that he never knew Pascale Smith or John Huston, and clarified that he never witnessed any incident but stated that due to the fact that he was a member of the Kitty Community Policing Group, the detective told him that ‘he had to cooperate and help the police’.
When questioned, Persaud stated that the first time he ever saw Smith was on the identification parade, he also shared that he was scared to be a part of the identification parade and as such the police officer gave him a hoodie and a sunshades to wear so that he would be comfortable while he was pointing out Smith.
The prosecution had applied for Persaud to be deemed a hostile witness, but the defence lawyer objected and the judge ruled that there was no foundation or basis for Persaud to be so treated.
Following Persaud’s testimony, the prosecution declined to call any further witness to testify and closed their case.
Smith’s lawyer then made a no-case submission to the court and he said that what Persaud said is the truth and in keeping with his police statement in 2017 as well as a statement given on January 31, 2022 which was not disclosed until during the trial. As such Justice Brassington Reynolds upheld the submission and directed the 12-member jury to give a formal verdict of not guilty.
Smith has been on remand for the murder of Hutson for almost five years since 2017. Smith made the news in July, 2017 when he escaped from the Lusignan Prison but was later apprehended in a pit latrine at Barr Street, Kitty, Georgetown.
Moreover, Smith has signalled his intention to sue the State for the police’s role in falsifying evidence against him.
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