Chief Magistrate Margaret Gabb-McKenzie this afternoon ruled that brothers Jody, 22, and Lynton Gentle, 18, of Antelope Street, Belize City, will stand trial for murdering Alpheus Smith, 22, at his home on the corner of Gibnut and Curassow Streets last June.
However, co-defendant Lester Young, 21, was told he would be discharged from the case after his attorney, Dickie Bradley, won a no-case submission first made to the Chief Magistrate last week during a preliminary inquiry against the trio, which concluded today. Charges can still be brought back against him, however.
Bradley contended that there was no evidence linking Young to the murder of Smith, a.k.a. “Junebird,” an alleged associate of the George Street gang.
An important witness in the prosecution’s case was none other than then Senior Superintendent of Police Chester Williams, who has since been controversially transferred to Belmopan and demoted to Superintendent. Williams was driving in the area with another officer, one P.C. Obed Arzu, when he happened to hear gunshots.
Looking up, he and Arzu reportedly saw the Gentles in the act of firing at Smith, who had just finished changing a tire on his car, then running down the street. Williams followed and eventually cornered the Gentles near their home on Antelope Street, where they reportedly were seen getting into a red Chevy Tracker, allegedly with Lester Young behind the wheel.
In court today, police prosecutor Sergeant Carol Tucker tried to counter Bradley’s submission by arguing that Young was a participant in the crime by means of “joint enterprise” – agreeing to join the Gentles in killing Smith. Supt. Williams had suggested in media reports at the time that Young was participating as an act of revenge for the December 2006 attack on his father, James Young, Sr.
According to Sgt. Tucker, the Gentles could well have agreed with Smith beforehand that he would wait for them and be available as their getaway driver; if this was so, their plan, Sgt. Tucker said, was foiled by police presence in the area in the person of Supt. Williams.
The Chief Magistrate was ultimately not convinced, citing judicial practice that dictated that Sgt. Tucker needed to present concrete evidence supporting her suspicions, which McKenzie said she failed to do.
According to Chief Magistrate McKenzie, her reading of the depositions and evidence gathered for the preliminary inquiry indicated that no witness positively linked Young to the shooting itself, not even Supt. Williams.
With a final warning that “assumptions” would not float in the Supreme Court, the Chief Magistrate directed that Young be let go and that the Gentles would be remanded until their trial in the next session of the Supreme Court in January, 2009.