2012 Durban Street murder: 3 men freed after 11 years on remand

After spending 11 years in jail for the murder of gold miner Glen Xavier, three men were acquitted by High Court Judge Simone Morris Ramlall due to a lack of proper identification of the deceased during the trial.

Faisal Moore called “Hard Mouth”, Steffon Campbell called “Burnham”, and Roy Yokum called “Ray Ray”, were on trial before a 12-member jury at the Demerara High Court.

The men had denied murdering Xavier on May 8, 2012, at the Cornbread Mini Mart, on D’Urban Street, Werk-en-Rust, Georgetown during a robbery.

During the trial, there was a “legal issue” as it relates to the identification of Xavier, which led to the Judge questioning why the prosecution led no evidence as to the identification of the body to the doctor by someone who is related to or otherwise familiar with the deceased.

“To my mind, in this instant case, there is absolutely no evidence of identification of the deceased, whose body the doctor performs a post-mortem examination on. There is nothing that can properly be left to the jury for consideration on the issue,” the Judge said on Monday.

As such, the judge withdrew the case from the 12-member jury and ordered them to return a formal verdict of not guilty.

Previously, in 2017, a 12-member jury had found the trio guilty and sentenced them to 80 years in prison. However, they appealed the verdict, arguing that the judge had made legal errors, leading to the conviction being set aside, and a retrial ordered.

The incident occurred at the Cornbread Mini Mart on D’Urban Street, Werk-en-Rust, where Xavier and his friend Orin John were having drinks when two men on motorcycles approached them.

The men demanded money and valuables at gunpoint, resulting in Xavier and John being robbed and shot. Xavier tragically died from gunshot injuries to the abdomen, while John survived after being hospitalised for a shoulder injury.

The trio made their first court appearance back in May 21, 2012.