State appeals acquittal in Terrence Moffat murder trial

State Prosecutor Rhondel Weever with guidance from Director of Public Prosecu-tions (DPP) Shalimar Ali-Hack last night appealed a verdict of acquittal delivered by the jury in the Terrence Moffat murder trial.

The appeal was filed hours after the mixed jury, when asked what their verdict was, responded to the court by saying “8 to 4”. Weever in a brief comment last night said that the jury, when asked for clarification on what they meant by “8 to 4”, did not provide a proper explanation.

A unanimous verdict (10 to 12 jury members agreeing) is needed to pronounce an accused guilty or not guilty of murder, the prosecutor explained. An 8 to 4 verdict cannot be accepted.

When questioned further about whether their 8 to 4 pronouncement was in relation to manslaughter, Weever explained, the jury told the court that they did not consider the lesser count during their deliberations and later stated that they unanimously found the accused Tarel Edwards not guilty of murder.

After more than 3 hours of deliberation yesterday afternoon the jury returned to the courtroom of Justice Dawn Gregory-Barnes. Following the delivery of the verdict of acquittal, the prosecution applied for a stay in proceedings to seek further advice from the DPP Ali-Hack.

In-chamber discussions were subsequently conducted among the prosecution team, the judge and defence attorney Peter Hugh about the verdict delivered by the jury.

Shortly after 8pm Ali-Hack in company of State Prose-cutor Judith Mursalin arrived at the High Court with a notice of appeal. Proceedings were recommenced and Justice Gregory-Barnes asked the accused to stand and asked whether he had heard the verdict of acquittal.

It was at this point that Weever presented her notice of appeal to the court. The lead prosecutor in the Moffat trial told the court that the state wished to serve notice of a desire to appeal the verdict of acquittal delivered by the jury. The appeal was made under Section 33 (c) (i) of the Court of Appeal Amendment Act, Number 4 of 2010.

Tarel Edwards

This is the second appeal of its kind to be filed by the state since the passing of the act. The first appeal was made by Mursalin in another case.

Hugh was then invited to make further submissions to the court. The attorney applied to Justice Gregory-Barnes for reasonable bail to be granted to his client Edwards. His client, Hugh told the court, has been on remand for several years, has no other pending matters or any previous convictions. Edwards, the attorney further said, has a fixed place of abode at Lot XXV North East La Penitence, Georgetown.
Justice Gregory-Barnes granted the accused bail in the sum of $100,000.

“This case has come to an end,” were the judge’s final words to the jury, “and you will return here on Monday February 14 when we will begin empanelling for another case.”

The case will commence in the Court of Appeal shortly.
It is alleged that on April 2, 2006 at Breda and Joseph Pollydore streets the accused murdered Moffat.
Moffat was reportedly beaten with a pistol and shot to the neck. Marcus Boyce and Julian Masdammer testified during the trial. Boyce was an eyewitness while Masdammer was reportedly shot to the shoulder during the alleged attack. The attack on Moffat surfaced from a longstanding land ownership dispute between his and Edwards’ relatives.