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22 year-old Lloyd Leslie Jr., who was charged with 2 counts of robbery, and 1 count of grievous harm, is a free man after his accuser went to court withdrawing the complaint. That kind of thing happens all the time, but this one took a turn: under questioning from the magistrate, the accuser admitted that he was paid to drop the charges.

The incident occurred on the evening of April 16, 2012, where 21 year-old Anthony Pollard told police that he and a female friend were walking home from school when they were approached by 2 men, one of them armed. He pointed it at them and demanded that they hand over all their belongings. Pollard said that while they were gathering their valuables to hand over, a police mobile was approaching. That distracted the thieved and Pollard took it as an opportunity to kick the gunman in his backside.

The gunman then pistol whipped him, and shot him in the back when he attempted to run away. Before the police mobile got close enough, both men ran off and escaped.

Leslie Jr. was the only person police eventually caught, and he was identified by the complainants as the gunman. He was charged with 2 counts of robbery and one count of attempted murder, but upon instruction from the DPP's Office, it was reduced to grievous harm.

The case came up today before Senior Magistrate Sharon Frazer, and that's when Pollard took the opportunity to tell the court formally that he did not wish to press charges any longer. He only demanded an apology from Leslie. Naturally, the Senior Magistrate questioned him several times to ensure that he no longer wanted court action, especially since witness intimidation is one of the major challenges to the court system.

After being consistently interrogated on his real reasons for dropping the charges, Pollard finally admitted that he was paid $1,500 to end the court action against Leslie. Still, inducement or not, his decision was final and the charge was dropped.