The retrial of a 27-year-old Morvant man for the murder of a retired army Major was aborted yesterday after just over a month of hearings.Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Sixth Assizes ordered that Shawn Lawrence be retried.Lawrence was before St Clair-Douglas and a 12 member jury for the murder of Major Joseph Mader.
The matter was aborted given prejudicial evidence given by a State witness.The trial, which was being prosecuted by Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal, began on November 3.Mader was reportedly found strangled at his Fourth Street, Malick, Barataria home on November 21, 2001.Mader, a founding member of the T&T Defence Force, was discovered by his 17-year-old son handcuffed and gagged with duct tape. A post mortem revealed that Mader died from asphyxia.
Lawrence's first trial before Justice Larry Lalla in 2007, also in the Port-of-Spain Assizes, was aborted after six weeks.He was jointly charged with Tunapuna resident Saddiqui "Sadiq" Martin, 27, who was reportedly shot and killed in an exchange with police in November 2007.
At the time of his death, Martin was a fugitive after he escaped from the Remand Yard at the Golden Grove Prison, Arouca in July of that year.Lawrence was being represented by defence attorneys Mario Merritt and Fareed Ali.
