After spending 4 years on remand, 28 year-old Albert "Cat" Reid, is at home tonight after he was acquitted in a trial without jury of the 2014 murder of 57 year-old Maurice "Tuco" Young.
It made major news back in May 2014 when Young was found dead in his back yard in the quiet and remote village of Santana, which is located on the Old Northern Highway. It was first murder in that community 5 decades or more. An onsite post-mortem determined that someone cut his throat. A few days later, Reid was arrested and charged with murder.
He stood trial before Justice Colin Williams, where the prosecution was represented by Crown Counsel Kileru Awich. He called 11 witnesses to testify against Reid, but all the evidence presented was purely circumstantial. Two of the main witnesses were actually Reid's brothers, and they told the court that around the time of Young's murder, Reid allegedly told them that he had just, quote "shub down" somebody. They told the court that they also saw Albert Reid wiping blood off a 12-inch knife, which belonged to the deceased. Justice Williams did not believe their testimony
When the prosecution closed its case, Reid was given 3 choices as to how he could offer a defense against the murder charge, but he chose to remain silent. His attorney, Herbert Panton, made a no-case submission on his behalf, but the judge rejected that.
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He deliberated on the evidence found, and at the end, the judge found Reid not guilty. He was allowed to leave court a free man.
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