Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Sherma Dalrymple has filed a “notice of discontinuance” in the murder case involving Haywood Augustine of Portsmouth.
Augustine was charged with the shooting death of Derek Peters of Sandwich Street Portsmouth on New Year’s Day 2018.
Although not required under law to give any reason (s) for discontinuing a matter, the DPP told the court, that among other things, the absence of three (3) eyewitnesses and in the interest of justice she had to discontinue the matter.
Peters died from a gunshot in the back of the neck in the first homicide case in Dominica for 2018.
A nine-member jury was already empaneled to hear the matter, but the DPP explained to the court, that since the charge was not ready for the jury, they were not yet put “in charge of the matter.”
Her views were also agreed to by defense lawyers Dawn Yearwood Stewart and Wayne Norde for the accused.
Justice Colin Williams who was the Judge hearing the matter commended the DPP for what he described as “the right decision.”
“Don’t mind the comments and or opinions or public outcry, as DPP you have to make the right decisions in law as a Minister of Justice,” the Judge stated.
In a brief comment to the media, the DPP stated that based on the evidence the accused raised “self-defense.”
“We are Ministers of justice…and it is not all about convictions, his defense (self-defense) could not be refuted, we have an accused with a legitimate self-defense, plus three key witnesses who also spoke about his self-defense are absent,” she said.
She praised the police for their work and also her staff for their diligence in bringing down the backlog of cases. “We have now cleared the backlog of cases that we had, we have staff who are trained in Paper committal and we are heading in that direction to expedite matters,” she said.
She also used the opportunity to call on persons with illegal firearms and ammunition again to make use of the extension of the gun amnesty.
In another high court matter, a former fire officer who was found guilty of several charges of buggery by a nine-member jury was sentenced to 18 years in jail by Justice Colin Williams.