Double murder accused denied bail

Knitson Reid, the man accused of the May 31 shooting deaths of two men and the wounding of a third in Roehampton, St James, was denied bail when he appeared in the St James Parish Court on Monday.

Reid, who is charged with the murders of 23-year-old farmer Liston 'Blacks' Anderson and 20-year-old Tavar 'Ravers' Doeman, was remanded until September 26 when he appeared before presiding Judge Sasha-Marie Ashley.

Allegations are that at 10:30 p.m., Anderson, Doeman, and another man were at Doeman's house when a lone gunman entered and shot the occupants. Anderson and Doeman died at the scene, while the third man was injured but managed to escape.

Reid was subsequently arrested and charged with the double homicide following investigations.

During Monday's court proceedings, Judge Ashley told Reid that having examined his case file, she did not agree with his lawyer Michael Hemmings' concerns regarding the identification of the defendant. Those concerns were previously raised when the matter first came to court on June 30.

"I have had an opportunity to peruse the file, what the prosecution will be relying on to prove the case against you, and your attorney had raised some issues of weaknesses, particularly with the identification. Having looked at it, I do not agree that it is so weak that the case against you is now tenuous...when I look at that and all other things that I have to consider, I do not believe you are a suitable candidate for bail," said Ashley.

The court was also told that the post-mortem report and a witness statement regarding the identification of the victims were outstanding from the prosecution's case file.

Judge Ashley subsequently ordered that Reid be remanded.

- C.T.