The murder trial against Bhuall Keimraj was discontinued earlier today after Justice Olson Alleyne ruled a statement, allegedly made by the accused man, inadmissible.
The jury then returned a formal not guilty verdict and, with that, Keimraj was free to go.
Keimraj, a Guyanese national, pleaded not guilty to murdering his neighbour sometime between March and October, 2008.
Shanelle Drakes went missing in March that year and the carpenter was charged in late October with her murder. Drakes and her boyfriend lived in a house next door to Keimraj. Her bones were found behind the paling of that house.
Defence attorneys Andrew Pilgrim QC and Angella Mitchell-Gittens made the application not to have Keimraj’s statement admitted into evidence.
The No. 5 Supreme Court judge ruled today that they were too many inconsistencies in the police evidence, which he deemed unreliable. The former accused man’s statement would have been taken by police.
Principal Crown Counsel Elwood Watts represented the Crown during the trial.