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Security guard freed of murder charge

Published:Thursday | January 12, 2023 | 1:11 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter

A security guard who was arrested last year for reportedly killing a man with a pickaxe was freed of murder in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Wednesday.

Twenty-five-year-old Dwight Thomas, of Arnett Gardens in St Andrew, was slapped with a murder charge after he went to the Trench Town Police Station to file a complaint that he was being threatened.

Interestingly, the complaint was about threats that were reportedly being made by relatives of the slain man.

Thomas, otherwise called ‘Bwoy Bwoy’, was charged with the murder of 65-year-old Phillip Lawrence, a resident of Arnett Gardens.

The allegations are that Thomas and two men used a pickaxe to hit Lawrence in the head during a dispute over a land border on Mexico Way in Kingston 12 on August 30, 2021.

Lawrence’s relatives attempted to assist him after he was injured but reportedly had to retreat after the men pulled guns at them.

Thomas and the other men reportedly escaped in the area, and Lawrence was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to the investigators, they had been searching for Thomas since August 30, 2021.

But on Wednesday, during the committal hearing, Thomas’ lawyer, Kemar Robinson, while denying the allegations, argued that the issue of identification was in question.

He submitted that there was no nexus between his client and a man identified as ‘Grimey’, who is accused of killing Lawrence.

Robinson also argued that no identification parade was held.

Following his submission, the judge ruled that no prima facie case was established and agreed with the defence that there was no connection between Thomas and the person who was identified as the killer in the prosecution’s case.

Attorney-at-law Matthew Simms also represented Thomas.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com