Green Hill man freed of murder charge

A Green Hill man, who was charged with the October 20, 2014 murder of fellow villager Aninka ‘Ninka’ Stowe, was on Monday freed of the charge at the Serious Offences Court.

Deshawn Slater, 20, was charged with the offence on August 2, 2016, while serving a three-year sentence for possession of an illegal firearm.

SEARCHLIGHT, in our issue of October 24, 2014, reported that Stowe died in the arms of her boyfriend Leon Small, moments after being shot twice while she made her way out of a shop she operated at Green Hill.

Stowe, who was 23 at the time of her death, was shot in her right shoulder and on the left side of her chest, in the presence of her eight-year-old daughter.

On August 2, 2016, Slater was brought before the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court, where he was not allowed to plead to the indictable charge. A Preliminary Inquiry was scheduled to begin on September 5 at the Serious Offences Court.

However, on January 9, 2017, the court was told that the case file was still at the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

When Slater reappeared before the court on Monday, the case file was still at the DPP’s office, causing Chief Magistrate Rechanne Browne-Matthias to point out the length of time that the case file had been stuck there.

The murder charge against Slater was dismissed.

When Slater was charged in 2016, a woman, who appeared to be his mother, stood outside the court and furiously argued that Slater did not commit the murder.(AS)