Murder of ‘Fabulous’: Man freed after 5 years on remand

After spending the last five years on remand, Kerwin Dos Santos was freed by the High Court on Wednesday after Justice Simone Morris-Ramlall upheld a no-case submission made by his attorney, Nigel Hughes.

Dos Santos was on trial with his co-accused, George Hope, both age 30, of Freeman Street, La Penitence for the murder of 47-year-old moneychanger, Shawn Nurse known as ‘Fabulous’.

Nurse was gunned down in America Street, Georgetown on February 4, 2018, while plying his trade. Both men had pleaded not guilty to the capital offence.

On Wednesday, attorney Nigel Hughes made a no-case submission for both men on the grounds of insufficient evidence.

The judge upheld the no-case submission in favour of Dos Santos and directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

However, the judge overruled the submission for George and called on him to lead his defence.

Back in 2018, investigators were able to arrest the suspects after reviewing surveillance footage that captured the murder.

The Police had noted that Nurse was sitting in a chair plying his trade when the armed perpetrator approached him from a northern direction and demanded that he hand over his money.

Nurse resisted and the perpetrator discharged a round hitting him in his left cheek, resulting in his death.

In 2018, a third accused, Kacey Heyliger was charged jointly with Dos Santos and George.

However, he was freed during the Preliminary Inquiry stage at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court due to the lack of evidence.