Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes freed Carl Swinauth in the High Court last week after a jury found him not guilty of killing another man with a cricket bat back following a row back in 2004.
The jury after deliberating for a short while returned with a not-guilty verdict for murder and on the lesser count of manslaughter. Swinauth was on trial for the November 9, 2004 murder of Kumar Jainarayan.
Swinauth and Jainarayan were part of a cricket match on the day in question and they later settled down to a game of cards. Accusations of cheating were later flying around and an argument broke out between the two.
In court the prosecution led by state counsel Sonia Joseph called witnesses who testified to the attack on Jainarayan, among them was the younger brother of the deceased. They recalled that the deceased, age 19 years, sustained a blow to the head and later succumbed in hospital.
But the evidence from the defence stated that the deceased was the first to lash out and Swinauth merely defended himself. Attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, who represented the accused, told the jury that his client acted in self-defence after he was struck with a piece of wood.
Swinauth’s caution statement which was admitted into evidence revealed that Jainarayan had chucked him and hit him with a piece of wood after they argued over the card game and he retaliated by picking up the cricket bat and hitting him.
In an unsworn statement from the dock the accused said he acted in self-defence.
