Three Men Cleared Of Armed Kidnapping
Three men accused of an armed kidnapping walked free from court today [Aug.17] after the alleged victim fled to Jamaica.
38-year-old Macray Bulford, 36-year-old Kenith Bulford and 31-year-old Ashley Wellman all walked free after Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons instructed a jury to return not guilty verdicts, reported ZBM.
The trio had been accused of holding 26-year-old Dwayne Reid Anderson against his will on January 2, 2010. They were accused of conspiring to use a firearm to commit the kidnap, wounding him with intent to do him grievous bodily harm and robbing him of $4,000 cash.
The three were first charged at Magistrates’ Court in January 2010, and all three men denied the charges.
Mr Reid-Anderson left Bermuda in November last year and has not returned. Police made efforts to persuade Mr Reid Anderson to come back from Jamaica but he refused, citing fear of the defendants and concern for his family in Bermuda.
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i do feel sorry for Mr Anderson but i have to ask the question,how do you exspect alleged criminals to be brought to justice if the victims do not testify? H e clearly knows who did this to him but they still walk free. this outrages me so much. People think about it if you testify and do your part then there is no reason to complain about the outcome after.we as an island need to pull together and say what you know,the longer you stay quiet the more these criminals get away with there crime. bermuda we are to small for this nonsense. if we stay quiet than they win and continue to make this island dangerous.
Stand on Front Street with a placard and say that Sweetblack.
Thenj we will all know that you (whomever) is concerned. Garbage without a bag.
Too late for all that. Maybe u didn’t read the article right. He fled because he fears his safety and the safety of his family if he does testify. Would you testify if you knew the people involved could harm/hurt your family members if u spoke against them. And with the police as corrupt as they are, what chance do ordinary citizens have.
Side note: Last night i got in a car accident and had to threaten the police that if they didnot come to the scene of the accident that the royal gazette would be notified. That was after the third call/request for a police preasance at an accident.
“preasance”….really? Maybe when you called, the police had no idea what you were gibbering on about.
Exchange details and let your insurance company deal with it, leave the police to deal with more important matters than a bumper to bumper ‘accident’.
Threatening to go the RG, pathetic and probably a lie.
Got any facts about the corruption? Done anything about it? Oh, right, just anonymously posted unfounded nonsense on a website. Good job Mr. Citizen.
Merely exchanging details isn’t enough. A police report needs to be made or else that person could go missing and give you the wrong “details”.
How can a judge instruct the jury to come back with non guilty verdicts? Can’t the judge put out a warrant for alledged victims arrest, bring him back to Bermuda from Jamaica and make him stand trial? How long can he stay in JA anyway? Aren’t there restrictions as to how long you can be in a country? But then again, I’m sure Jamaica is not concerned either.
OMGracious. Did you actually think before putting your fingers to the keys? The victim isn’t on trial simpleton! Therefore he cannot be compelled to come back to the Island and give evidence!!!!! A victim standing trial!! If I didn’t know any better I would swear you were in kindergarten and it was past your nap time. Research court trials before you speak of such nonsense. The article is clear the young man is fearful for his family’s life- a sad trend we face in our trial system presently! The Teflon-Bulfords walk again!!!! The police are fully aware of those boys, yet the police can do nothing to get any charges against them to stick!!!
Actually, the judge CAN issue a summons to a witness in a criminal trial, and order the witness to be arrested if the summons is ignored. Granted, it’s completely impractical to follow this course when the victim is in a foreign country, but US Observer’s comments are completely off-key.
Maybe you should think a bit yourself before you go slagging off others.
arn’t completely off-key*
Oh and he directed the jury to come back with a not guilty verdict because the victim, the main complainant who could seal the case was not present- so how would you propose the trial proceed? You come from the US, watch Law & Order and get a damned clue!
Once again, it’s not immediately apparent that a not guilty verdict had to be directed. Had the Crown had its house in order before the trial started, then the indictment could have been ordered to lie on the file.
He is jamaican so I’m thinking as long as he wants…..
How many times does Kenith Bulford have to be accused of something and continually get away scott-free before people realize there may be fire with the smoke?
It is what it is… they got off so be it. Its not the first or last case that will have this out come. What goes around comes around.
… hopefully.
u cant force a guy to come to trial in this case. question is… why waste $$$$ send 2 officers to Jamaica to BEG him to come back?
They wasted good Money on that trip.
Its must be more to this ‘robbery’ story anyway.
this message is for “too late”, I too had a similar problem an accident with a bike where the bike caused considerable damage to my car. The rider a 19 year old had no license with him so I took down his name, phone number and license plate and called the police but they never came. The biker took off after a while and guess what? His license plate was stolen from another bike, his so called phone number was a fake and and there was no such name as his so I had to pay for the car door/front end damage myself and the police never came. This was before we had gangs and shootings that tied up the police to more important things.
Well…eceryone is so high tech nowadays…take a photo
#swag
Wickedness shall follow them all the days of their lives ..
AMEN!!!!
What happend to innocent until proven guilty??? Was any of you there to know for a fact that these guys really did it? who cares if they’ve been in trouble before…does that automatically make them guilty? Also, just for the record.if you followed the case or even the news you would know the “victim” was the 1 locked up for charges that he was PROVEN to be guilty of but was then “let off” for working with the police and thannn was allowed to travel? last time I checked police and the courts are usually quick to hold on to travel documents of charged criminals that are on probation??? Just seems a little weird…either way I dont know if these guys are guilty or not but at least know facts before you start taking on the heavy job of JUDGING #thatisall
Kenith Bulford is an evil evil person,,
Bermudians always brave behind they keys!
@ IT IS WHAT IT IS..we apparently have the same name (mine is just lower case) and we seem to agree…at the end of the day the judge directed the jury and the jury followed his directions! NOT GUILTY plain and simple…..There is ALWAYS more than one side to a story..in this case HIS, THEIRS and the TRUTH!!!! There is in fact a MUCH BIGGER picture to this situation than what has been presented to those who are quick to judge..when you want to run with the “big dogs” and than “roll over” be prepared to deal with the consequences…..
@Ignorance is bliss says: I won’t subject to your tone or ignorant remarks in response to mine. I posed a few questions, not submitting a dissertation. If this irritated you, then I apologize. Remember it’s not what someone says or does to you, it’s how you react to it. Now go eat some macroni and cheese and peas and rice, oh and chicken.
@Innocent until proven guilty…get a life many know what those three individuals are about.
most of you are asking d wrong question..y did the victim av 4grand CASH on him,was he going to purchase an illegal substance?nobody besides drug dealers carry around dat much cash
FALSE, it’d called walking around money…
*it’s –> although i’m sure i’ll still be corrected. but make sure you double * so i see it…
Well, even if true, it doesn’t take away from the fact that someone has committed a crime. Kidnapping those involved in drugs is still an offence. The police and the Crown do not make their charging decisions on the basis of how desirable the victim is and nor should they.