Life in jail after club shooting

Chief Justice Anthony Smellie yesterday found Devon Anglin guilty of the September 2009 nightclub murder of Carlo Webster.

Chief Superintendent John Jones said after the verdict: “A dangerous and evil person has been put behind bars for the rest of his life”.

He was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Christopher Solomon and possession of an unlicensed firearm.

Anglin was acquitted on 31 August last year in the February shooting death of 4-year-old Jeremiah Barnes at the Hell Road Esso station in West Bay.

Visiting Jamaican Justice Howard Cooke presided at the summertime trial, ultimately absolving Anglin of the killing, but remanding him back into custody pending the Carlo Webster proceeding. Police and prosecutors are appealing Justice Cooke’s decision.

Presentations before the Chief Justice ended on 15 December with Mr Smellie declaring he would deliver his verdict after due consideration. After more than a month’s hiatus, he returned Friday afternoon.

Anglin, defended by Dorian Lovell-Pank, had been accused of shooting Mr Webster, 34, in the early morning of 10 September 2009, at the Next Level nightclub, following an earlier altercation between the two.

Eleven closed-circuit cameras at the nightclub recorded the events, but none covered the particular area in which the shooting occurred.

Both prosecution and defence agreed the only issue was identification of the gunman, who killed Mr Webster in an area leading to the men’s toilets and adjacent to the dance floor.

Anglin did not testify, and while his attorney acknowledged he had been at the nightclub on 10 September, said he was innocent of the shooting.