By LAMECH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
ljohnson@tribunemedia.net
A MAN appeared in Magistrates Court on Friday morning accused of committing the country’s 122nd murder of the year.
Renard Strachan, 30, however, claims that he had an alibi that police detectives failed to verify in their investigations into the October 23 murder of Julian Johnson on Taylor Street, Nassau Village.
Strachan stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt accused of intentionally causing Johnson’s death on the afternoon in question.
A week ago, Johnson was sitting on a porch of his residence when three persons pulled up in a Nissan vehicle and, wearing masks and armed with handguns, entered the yard where the victim was sitting and began discharging shots at him.
Johnson was shot multiple times and collapsed on the porch. He was found later and pronounced dead.
Strachan, also a resident of Nassau Village, was not required to enter a plea to the charge and was told that his case will be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court at his next court appearance on December 16.
His lawyer, Tamara Taylor-Storr, brought his alibi to the court’s attention.
“My instructions are that Mr Strachan had advised the police that he was home at the time in his backyard and that his neighbour's camera had the proof. However, police failed to do due diligence in their investigations and that footage may now be lost because the footage, I’m told, automatically erases after five days” she said.
The Chief Magistrate made a note of the complaint before remanding the accused to prison to await trial.
Strachan can apply to the Supreme Court for bail.
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