A Jamaican judge has bemoaned the ongoing criminal case for Livingston Cain who was charged for allegedly offering bribe to a juror in Vybz Kartel’s high-profile murder case eight years ago.
The case came up for hearing on Tuesday, where parish Court Judge Maxine Ellis remarked that the case had been prolonged in the court.
It is alleged that the juror, Livingston Cain offered a monetary inducement to a fellow juror to give a vote in favor of freeing the incarcerated deejay. According to police, while the trial was taking place in 2014, Cain was eventually hit with a charge of perverting the course of justice in relation to his offer of $500,000 to a female juror for a not-guilty verdict in the trial.
At the time, dancehall artistes Vybz Kartel, his protégé Shawn Campbell, associates Kahiro Jones and Andre St John, were convicted for Clive “Lizard” Williams’s murder, which police say occured in 2011.
Judge Ellis, however, said the matter has been in court for too long and said she wanted to see the matter end in the new year.
“I would prefer finishing this matter in this calendar year so I don’t have to make another anniversary. I have now set the matter for summation. All things being equal, this matter is going to be completed on December 13,” Ellis said.
In the meantime, King’s Counsel Valerie Neita Robertson who formerly represented Vybz Kartel during his trial at first instance, also said that her client was innocent and pointed out that the Crown’s case was weak and should have been thrown out.
According to the senior attorney, the female juror who reported Cain reportedly had a recording of a conversation she claimed was evidence of him offering the bribe, but the recording was not clear.
The defense counsel added that the so-called evidence in the case hinged on what the woman was alleging, but the evidence was not enough outside of her interpreting it for the court.
“There was a conversation and she interprets it by saying, ‘So you want me to influence them fi leggo di man dem and den we talk? Mi nuh understand da piece deh’. All of this is coming from her. Based on the recording that was not clear, she went back to Mr Cain and renewed the conversation. She said ‘what is in it for me, Mr Cain? Weh you ago get $500,000 from and you always say you nuh have no money?’, all of what would amount to corroboration,” said King’s Counsel Valerie Neita Robertson as quoted by the Observer.
The attorney also brought up the issue of the juror’s phone, which according to the lawyer, is not available for a forensic audit to verify whether her claims are credible.
The matter will come up again for mention on December 13.
