Primus not guilty of kidnapping charges

Bilton Primus will learn his fate on November 11, 2011, after he was found guilty by a nine-member jury of causing grievous bodily harm to Darrine Edwards of Old Montrose, on November 5, 2009.{{more}}

The 38-year-old Campden Park resident was convicted on Monday, October 24, 2011, at the High Court’s criminal assizes. He was also charged with kidnapping, but the jury returned a not guilty verdict on that count, after close to two hours of deliberation.

In Edwards’ testimony to the court, she said that at around 7:30 a.m., she was walking in the Botanic Gardens area on her way to an interview at C.K. Greaves in Arnos Vale when she saw a white Nissan vehicle.

As the vehicle passed her, Edwards said Primus alighted from the back passenger seat of the vehicle, grabbed her and pulled her into the car.

While in the car, Edwards said Primus told the two persons in the front seats of the car to go to Campden Park so he could “deal with her”.

When they arrived at his house, Edwards said Primus told her if she raised any alarm he would “end” her. In the house, the woman said Primus questioned her about other men.

She told the court she was kept in captivity for eight days.

The woman said while in the house, she was beaten in her head with a hammer and all about her body, which resulted in a broken knee cap. She said she could not leave the house because of her injured leg, and was afraid to leave because the defendant frequented a shop nearby.

While at the house, Edwards said she cooked and survived mostly on bread.

She was able to escape one night after the defendant came home and fell asleep. She then made a report to the police.

In his testimony, Primus denied kidnapping Edwards and said it was Edwards who came to his home and stayed there. He said the day before the incident, she told him that she was coming up from Canouan and was staying at a friend’s house in Glen, so he did not have to come to pick her up.

The woman, however, told the court, that she and Primus had ended their relationship in February that same year and said they had no contact after that.

In his summation of the trial, presiding judge Frederick Bruce-Lyle pointed out several inconsistencies in the case of the crown.

Bruce Lyle questioned the woman’s testimony, asking how did Primus know she would be in that area at that exact time of day, since they had no contact since their relationship ended in February.

The judge asked if Edwards had an interview in Arnos Vale, why would she stay in Glen, come back to Old Montrose to go back to Arnos Vale, when it was easier to just go from Glen to Arnos Vale.

Primus said that he had broken off the relationship with Edwards because of a dispute over a cheque. He said he just left her at the house and journeyed to the countryside where he was seeing another woman.

He noted that Edwards was only trying to set him up and said she would “do for him”.

In mitigation, Primus’ counsel Ronald Marks told the court that the facts related in the case were of a domestic nature. He noted that the location of the injuries show that there was no intention to cause death. “In the circumstances, where the injuries are not severe, I submit that a non custodial sentence would be adequate in the circumstances…,” Marks pleaded.

Primus was remanded in custody.(KW)