Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator

KINGSTON, Jamaica:
Forty-six-year-old custom broker clerk Hugh Richards has been freed by the Court of Appeal of his prison sentence for his alleged involvement in a massive gun and ammunition find at Kingston Wharf in February 2005.

The court found that Richards was wrongly convicted on August 31, 2007 of the offences.

In giving its reasons today for freeing Richard, the court said the conviction followed a trial in which no evidence had been properly adduced against him.

The court said it seemed that the Resident Magistrate had improperly relied on statements made by Richard's co-accused.

After Richards was convicted he signed and delivered a notice of appeal to the prison authorities.

However, the authorities failed to lodge it with the court within the time stipulated by law.

The form was not filed until September 2007 in the Court of Appeal Registry and should have been filed in the Resident Magistrate's Court.

WATCH: END2END ... Shafer in or out?


Follow us on Twitter:
@JamaicaGleaner

Follow us on Instagram:
jamaicagleaner

Watch our videos on YouTube:
Jamaica Gleaner

Email us: onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com