Jury acquits accused murdered; cites self-defence

A construction worker accused of murder was acquitted of all charges against him today in the Supreme Court. According to court reports, on August twenty-seventh 2004, nineteen year old Oligario Assi stabbed Rolando Crawford in the chest with a knife after the two became embroiled in an argument in San Pedro Town. Assi testified before Justice Adolph Lucas in his own defence, claiming that he had no intention of hurting the victim. Witnesses to the incident supported the teenager’s assertions that Crawford had been the aggressor, and after three hours of deliberations, a jury determined that Assi had acted in self-defence. As a result, at four this afternoon, Justice Lucas dismissed the charges of manslaughter and murder against him. The defendant was represented by attorney Aldo Salazar while Cheryl Lynn Branker-Taitt served as prosecutor.