Mistrial declared in ‘Cobra’ trial over 2010 murder

Tyrone Rowe
Tyrone Rowe

Owing to a procedural error, Justice Sandil Kissoon yesterday declared a mistrial of the case in which Tyrone Rowe, called ‘Cobra,’ was before the court for the 2010 murder of Troy Collymore.

The defect which warranted the judge’s declaration, surfaced when the case was nearing its end.

As a result, Rowe has been remanded to prison to await a new trial which is scheduled to commence in the new criminal session next January.

Rowe was being tried before a 12-member mixed jury for murdering Collymore, who was shot in August, 2010 after a robbery at a pharmacy in Plaisance on the East Coast of Demerara.

He was declared clinically dead two days after at the Georgetown Public Hospital.

Representing the accused was attorney George Thomas, while the state’s case was being led by prosecutor Lisa Cave, in association with Orinthia Schmidt.

Rowe, who in 2013 was unanimously convicted of the killing and sentenced to 78 years in jail by Justice Navindra Singh, had appealed his conviction which was earlier this year heard by the Court of Appeal.

Upholding the challenge to the conviction and setting aside the sentence, the appellate court had ordered a fresh trial.