Collis Collinson, who was accused of killing Linden businessman Albert ‘Bolo’ Joseph during a robbery, was freed yesterday after Justice Dawn Gregory yesterday upheld a no-case submission made by his attorney.
The prosecution on Wednesday closed its case in the trial, with a police witness denying having words during an identification (ID) parade with the person who had identified Collinson as the person who did the shooting during the 2011 robbery.
On Monday January 3, 2011 at Sunflower Street, Linden Joseph was confronted by a bandit who demanded his cash and shot him. The businessman later succumbed in hospital.
Joseph’s daughter, Lauren Joseph, was the person to identify Collinson as the man who killed him.
However, during the trial, defence attorney Peter Hugh suggested to the police witness who had conducted the ID parade that Lauren Joseph had entered the room, looked at the men and stated that she could not identify any of them. And that after that, she left the room and he followed her along with another policeman and words were exchanged. Joseph had returned to the room and picked Collinson, the lawyer suggested.
The witness, however, said he could not recall that occurring on the day of the ID parade. The statement that he gave in the Magistrate’s Court, however, contradicted this. He said what was recorded was “a mistake.”
Hugh stated that the witness was taking himself out from speaking with Joseph outside of the parade.
Albert Joseph died at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
According to reports in the media, Lauren Joseph, who was the cashier on duty, said the bandit entered the store brandishing a gun. At the time, she was in the cashier’s cage and Joseph was sitting in his usual position in front of the cashier’s cage. She had reportedly stated that the bandit demanded cash and when her father gave him, he asked for more. It was then, she said, her father was shot.
