|
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
A Guyanese judge has dismissed murder charges against a former policeman accused of slaying a man whose killers mistakenly believed he had revealed the existence of a secret death squad.
Seans Hinds was charged with the January 2004 murder of Shafeek Bacchus.
Justice James Bovell-Drakes ruled Friday evening that the prosecution's case against Hinds was weak and that key witnesses during the two-week trial gave conflicting testimony.
State prosecutors said Hinds and two other men confused Bacchus for his brother George, who told the US and other embassies in 2003 about the alleged existence of a hit squad formed to hunt down a group of fugitives who escaped from prison.
The squad grew to include private hits of suspected criminals after a wave of violent killings rocked Guyana in 2002 and 2003, George Bacchus had said. During those years, about 370 people were slain. The group was accused of being involved in about 40 executions.
|
