Trinidad and Tobago bar owner cleared of 2020 murder charge after trial

Trinidad and Tobago: A 51 year old bar owner, Kervin “Duffy” Harrynarine, a resident of Cunupia has been cleared of all the charges related to the 2020 killing of his daughter's friend, following a judge alone trial before Justice Nalini Singh.

The incident which put Harrynarine as the accused for killing Devon Brown occurred on 21st June, 2020.

On that day Harrynarine and their relatives heard screams of Harrynarine’s daughter from upstairs when they all were in the bar which was located under his house.

As per the reports, all the men rushed to the scene to help his daughter and they found both of them fighting. In this incident Harrynarine was accused of stabbing Brown while he was trying to escape the scene, by running out of the house.

Brown was hit and his body had several stab wounds. He was found lying at the side of the road and later died because of injuries in the hospital.

Immediately, both father and his 27 year old daughter were arrested by the authorities but only Harrynarine was charged. This action was taken based on the evidence provided by his cousin’s son, Andy Seebaran. Andy confirmed that he saw Harrynarine stab Brown.

During the trial, Taradath Singh, Harrynarine’s lawyer, raised various inconsistencies in Seebaran’s evidence.

Later, Justice Singh agreed to the objections raised by Harrynarine’s lawyer against Seebaran’s evidence which was supported by the CCTV footage.

Justice Singh mentioned that her findings did not signify that Seebran was deliberately telling the fabricated truth. She mentioned that the honest witness can be mistaken due to stressful and fast paced circumstances.

She further said, “The danger is whether, in the confusion of the struggle, in poor lighting, from a disputed vantage point, he accurately saw the accused inflict the stab wounds, rather than later reconstructing the event from what he believed had happened or from what he later saw on the video.”

She also explained that the video was not clear enough to prove without doubt that Harrynarine stabbed Brown.

She said, “That doubt is not speculative.”