Murder Acquittal due to amnesia and missing link to crime

Triston Gordon

Twenty-nine year old Kenyon Plunkett, an auto mechanic of Belize City, was executed on April 28^th, 2011, while returning to his jobsite from completing an errand.  The father of three was shot once to the back of his head in a dead-end off Lakeview Street by an assailant, who was later identified as Triston Gordon.  In the wake of the murder he was remanded to the Belize Central Prison where he awaited trial for two years.  During Gordon’s time behind bars Kyle Chaplin, a friend of his, who reportedly knew about the plot to kill Plunkett, offered to testify against him in court.  Chaplin is said to have signed several affidavits placing Gordon at the scene of the fatal shooting.  But, in court over the past week the crown witness, according to relatives of the deceased, suffered a bout of convenient amnesia, denying that he gave a sworn statement to police.   In handing down a decision Justice Adolph Lucas noted, quote, that it would be dangerous to convict the accused on the evidence of Kyle Chaplin because he has his own interest to serve since he was with the accused all the while, unquote.  Justice Lucas also mentioned that the crown failed to prove Gordon’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, in view of the fact that the prosecutor was unable to link Gordon to Plunkett’s murder.  With that, Gordon was acquitted of the charge.  Following this morning’s verdict, News Five spoke with Romey Plunkett, who says that what transpired in court today was a miscarriage of justice.

Romey Plunkett

Romey Plunkett, Sister of Deceased

“Dis mawnin di judge mi fi give ih ruling pan di case.  Di case di go ahn like wah week and a half.  Di judge accept di statement from di witness as evidence cause di young man, di accused own friend turn wah hostile witness gainst ahn.  When he get eena court he decide dat he noh memba nothing, right, buut di judge still accept it as evidence because he sign it six times, yoh know.  And then when dehn ask ahn fi read di statement he seh dat he cyant read so di judge geh di CIB weh mi tek di statement fi read di statement and di statement place he pan di crime scene and everything, you know.  Ahn nobody couldn’t tell me dat today dehn neva mi wah convict dis bwai fi my bredda murda because da statement states from weh time he get up.  Like he plan fi kill my bredda, fahn eight o’clock he gaan da ih friend house, yo know, show ahn di gun, tell ahn my bredda violate ahn and ih gwein go put wah end to ahn, you know. 

Kenyon Plunkett

According to the judge this morning, fi he ruling weh mek di young man come out not guilty is because dehn neva have wah witness fi seh who ker my bredda da hospital.  I noh think dehn mi need dat because my bredda godmother gaan identify ahn when time ih dead, yo know, and di man weh do di post mortem even seh dat.  So I noh sih how you wahn no convict somebody pan wah simple reason dat dehn no seh who pick up mi bredda.  According to the judge, he mussi mi wahn my bredda dead down deh fi seh well, yo know, ih dead and dat dis person kill ahn.  Di statement, three pages ah statement seh everything, from when time dehn lay wait ahn when dehn kill my bredda and dis morning ah mean nobody coulda tell me dat dehn no mi wah find ahn guilty.  We noh happy bout it, my whole family noh happy bout it because my bredda work weh paat ih get killed fi fifteen years.  Ih dead left ih three pickney dehn and he da neva wah trouble person.  Ah mean he noh have no problem wid di law and fi mek ih life just go like dat ih noh fair and I noh undastand why Adolph Lucas mek da ruling dis mawnin weh ih mek.”

Gordon’s trial was the third to be held in the absence of a jury.