A man who was accused of fatally stabbing his cousin at a dance at Kellits, Clarendon, has been freed of the murder charge following a no-case submission.

Attorney-at-law Dwight Reece, who represented 37-year-old welder Horace Jones, of Lluidas Vale, St Catherine, submitted that the Crown failed to prove that Jones was not acting in self-defence.

Jones was charged with the murder of Glenton Clacken, 38, of Lluidas Vale.

The Crown led evidence at the trial in the Clarendon Circuit Court that on the night of August 13, 2004, the two men, both cousins, were at a dance at Kellits.

Cross-examination

Under cross-examination by Reece, the witnesses admitted that Clacken, who was drunk, moved towards the accused in an aggressive manner. They also admitted that Clacken had a mobile phone in his hand.

Reece, however, showed the police statements in which witnesses had said that the object was a bottle. The witnesses admitted that after the incident, the accused said, "Lawd God, look how Che mek mi kill him."

Supreme Court judge Norma McIntosh upheld the no-case submission and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com