Last week, two men accused of attempted murder were freed when the court prosecutor in Chief Magistrate Ann Marie Smith’s court could not produce their case file.

Another occurrence of a missing case file today prompted Smith to strike out the murder charge against an accused man who has been on remand for more than one year

When the case was called up, the court’s prosecutor, Sergeant Egbert Castillo, told the Chief Magistrate that he did not have the case file for the accused man, so the court could not proceed with the scheduled preliminary inquiry.

Having heard that there was no case file, Chief Magistrate Smith told the accused man, Dion Brackett, 21, that he was free to go, after she struck out the case for want of prosecution.

Brackett had been on remand for the January 5, 2013 murder of Marvin Foreman, 27, who died from a hail of bullets a short distance from his home on Louise Bevans Street in the Port Loyola area.

The shooting occurred at the corner of Freedom Street and Central American Boulevard.

Some members of Brackett’s family who were outside of the courtroom broke down in tears of joy, as they hugged him and quickly departed from around the court area.

This is the second such case to occur within a week for persons accused of indictable offences.

Last Monday, May 5, the charges against Brandon Smith and Alrick Smith, accused of attempted murder and other related charges, were struck out because there was no case file for the court to proceed with its preliminary inquiry.

But by Wednesday, May 7, however, the two men were brought back before the court to be arraigned on the same charges.

Brandon “Battery” Smith was out on his bail at the time when his case was struck out. He was picked up and recharged, denied bail and is now spending time on remand.

The charge against Brackett can be brought back upon instructions from the Director of Public Prosecution. If it is brought back, he will be rearrested and charged for the murder.

But for now, he is savoring his taste of freedom.

On Saturday, January 5, 2013, at around 3:00 p.m., in the afternoon, Marvin Foreman was shot multiple times as he stood near Bobo Shop, located at the corner of Freedom Street and Central American Boulevard, just a block away from where he lived on Louise Bevans Street.