1st Murder Conviction for 2012

Emmerson Eaghan

There is a murder conviction to report tonight. A man accused of murdering his neighbor in 2009, was convicted late Monday evening in the Supreme Court. Emmerson Eaghan was on trial for fatally shooting thirty-five year old Dennis Nembhard on Flamboyant Street in June 2009. The guilty verdict was announced at around twenty minutes after six o’clock; deliberation lasted less than three hours. At the start of the trial Prosecutor Christophe Rodriguez submitted an application to have a statement by the main witness, Shelmadine Sanchez, admitted into evidence in her absence. Sanchez would have testified, but she was murdered near her Oleander Street residence in August 2010. Justice Adolph Lucas allowed the admission of the statement, which sealed Eaghan’s conviction. Sanchez had told police that on June first, 2009 between seven and eight p.m., she was walking home along with a group of friends, including Nembhard. In the area of Oleander Street, they went in separate directions. Sanchez explained that she was about to enter a yard when she saw Eaghan unmasked and armed with a handgun. He walked past her and aimed the gun in the direction that Nembhard went. She yelled at him not to shoot, but Eaghan fired a single gunshot. Nembhard then fell to the ground, but got up and started running. According to Sanchez’ statement, she thought he had escaped without injury, but he collapsed in a nearby alley with a gunshot wound to the back. In his defense, Eaghan gave sworn testimony claiming that at the time of the murder he was playing basketball near the Mahogany Street police substation and went directly home after the game. When asked in cross examination about the route he took to get home, Eaghan was hesitant and said he could not remember the names of the streets. The jury found Sanchez’ version of the incident to be more convincing and unanimously found him guilty. As for Sanchez’ murder, the witness, Ivan Francis, was murdered in 2010 before he could give a statement to police.