The manslaughter conviction against a Rio Claro man was quashed on Wednesday by the Court of Appeal.
Shiffie Roberts had been sentenced to nine years in prison in 2009 for the killing in on May 10, 2003 of Reynold Loudon, aka Rodger Loudon, a fellow villager, during an altercation which ended in Loudon succumbing to chop wounds. Loudon, 24, was chopped to death by a group of cutlass-wielding men while he was walking home, along Guayaguayare Road, Rio Claro, after drinking at a nearby bar. Roberts, who was 19 at the time, was jointly charged with his younger brother, Yafusa Ramsaroop, who was later acquitted. They were both identified by witnesses as being part of the group.
In reversing the judgment and dismissing a retrial, Court of Appeal judges Paula-Mae Weekes, Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Rajendra Narine considered the youthfulness of Roberts at the time of the incident and the fact he had been incarcerated for seven years. Yorke-Soo Hon noted there were serious errors in the conduct of the Roberts' trial concerning the issues of self- defence and the treatment of a hostile witness. "A retrial would unfairly give the prosecution an opportunity to correct its errors," Yorke-Soo Hon said. Roberts was represented by attorney Sophia Chote, while Dana Seetahal, SC, represented the State.
