Derek Achong
A man from Laventille has been sentenced to hang for murdering a 16-year-old boy following an altercation in 2009.
Justice Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle read the mandatory death sentence for Simba Dickson after he was found guilty by a 12-member jury at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, earlier this week.
Dickson, of St Barbs, Laventille, was accused of murdering Devon Blake on February 8, 2009.
Dickson reportedly had an argument with Blake while they were both walking along a road in Belmont.
Residents saw Dickson slap Blake before they intervened to separate the two.
Later that evening, Dickson reportedly went to the teenager's house and asked for him to come outside.
Blake's relatives told him he was not home and he left. They claimed they saw a gun in Dickson's back-pocket as he was walking away.
Later that night, Blake was shot in his back while liming in the front gallery of his home.
He was taken to the hospital but died while receiving treatment.
Although no one saw Dickson shooting Blake, Blake's relatives and neighbours claimed that they saw him (Dickson) running away after hearing the gunshot.
Dickson chose to not testify in his defence but called his sister as a witness as she claimed that he was at her house at the time of the shooting.
However, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Dylan Martin discredited the claimed alibi while intensely interrogating her.
While under cross-examination, she admitted that Dickson briefly left her house to go to a parlour.
She admitted that she could not see the parlour from her house and could not conclusively say if Dickson was there at the relevant time.
Martin also pointed out that Dickson initially told the police he was at another location at the time of the murder and not at her house. Dickson's sister acknowledged the discrepancy.
She eventually confessed that her claims over her brother's whereabouts were fabricated.
The jurors took just over one and a half hours to deliberate before unanimously finding that Dickson was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
