SENIOR PUISNE Judge Marva McIntosh began her summation yesterday to the jury trying the case of the two men who have been accused of strangling elderly Manchester couple Richard and Julia Lyn.

The judge told the jury that the Crown was relying on common design or joint enterprise to prove the murder case against the men. She said the Crown's case was based on circumstantial evidence.

The judge called on the jurors to come to their decision as to guilt or innocence purely on the evidence that they had heard in court.

Justice McIntosh advised the jurors not to speculate about things they had heard outside the courtroom, and not to be influenced by anything they had heard or read about the case.

She urged them not to have sympathy for the deceased, the accused or anyone connected to the deceased or the accused.

The judge outlined the various aspects of the law that the jurors would have to rely on to come to their decision. She will continue her summation on Monday.

those charged

Lennox Swaby, 28, taxi driver and farmer of Hopeton district, Manchester, and Calvin Powell, 26, garbage-truck driver, of New Green, Manchester, have been on trial in the Home Circuit Court since October 5.

The Lyns were strangled between December 9 and 10, 2006, during a robbery at their home at Battersea Avenue, Mandeville.

Prosecutors Lisa Palmer Hamilton and Claudette Thompson led evidence that the two accused were found in possession of items, including furniture and appliances, which belonged to the Lyns.

Attorney-at-law Robert Armstrong, who is representing Powell, in addressing the jury, said there was no evidence that the men had killed the couple. He called on the jury to return a verdict of not guilty because that was the just and fair verdict.