The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A MAN accused of killing a messenger of a fast-food restaurant during a deposit-run closed his case in the Supreme Court yesterday when his defence witness failed to appear to give testimony from Freeport by video link.

Angelo Rahming, a 31-year-old of Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama opted not to give sworn evidence before a jury after the prosecution closed its against him. He was accused of the November 13, 2006, fatal shooting and stabbing of Pastor Troy Seymour.

Rahming instead called officer Carlson Deleveaux, a fireman who had been

subpoenaed by the court at the defendant’s request, to testify in his defence from Justice Hartman Longley’s court in Grand Bahama.

Officer Deleveaux, however, was not present when the Freeport court clerk called his name.

Justice Carolita Bethell stood down the officer’s testimony to allow another officer called by the accused, giving officer Deleveaux more time to arrive at the Freeport court.

Kendrick Bauld, who was called to Bank Lane yesterday just moments before his testimony, told a jury in his brief testimony that he had known the accused from 1996 and did not know him to be a violent person.

However, when cross-examined by prosecutor Roger Thompson, he admitted that he could not say that his childhood friend did not stab and shoot Troy Seymour on the day in question because he was not present when the murder had occurred.

Justice Bethell then reconnected the trial to the Freeport courtroom where the court clerk again called officer Deleveaux’s name. However, the police officer neither responded nor appeared.

The accused then said he would rest his defence.

Rahming faces two charges, one of murder and the second of armed robbery in the death of Pastor Troy Seymour.

On the day in question, Seymour was held up for $11,529 belonging to Kentucky Fried Chicken shortly after picking up the deposit bag from the establishment.

While being chased, he was shot in the hip and the back. When he sought help in his grandmother’s home, he was repeatedly stabbed in the back by the assailant.

Rahming was initially convicted and sentenced for the matter after attempting to change his guilty plea, claiming that he was intoxicated when the plea was entered.

He challenged the conviction and sentence to the Court of Appeal in February 2012 and won when the court ordered a retrial. The prosecution conceded that the process in determining if the plea should be accepted was unfair.

The accused and the prosecution are expected to address the jury today.