Greene acquitted of a manslaughter charge

Shuni Greene accepts that his actions caused the death of his life-long, best friend Ulrick Brian Adams. He, however, wants everyone to know that he is sorry.{{more}}

On Monday, March 21, 2011, a nine member jury brought back a verdict of not guilty for the charge of manslaughter laid against Greene, 26, of Mt. Grenan.

“I never mean for it to happen like that at all. It just unfortunate,” said Greene, who gave a huge sigh of relief as he exited the doors of the High Court in Kingstown.

Adams, 33, died five days after being struck in the head with a stone on September 11, 2009, at Mt Grenan.

“I am going to get a work and stop the drinking. I want to thank Jomo Thomas (his lawyer) for seeing me through all of this,” Greene said.

The case heard that Greene had bought a ‘pitty’ of strong rum and invited the deceased to have a drink with him. Greene poured a glass for himself and for his friend.

Moments later, the deceased took up the bottle of rum and went to another shop. Greene went behind him and told him to bring back the rum.

It was said that Adams later took up bottles and fired them at Greene, who had to seek refuge in a woman’s yard nearby. Upon Adams’ attempt to fire a third bottle, Greene took up a stone and fired it at Adams, which caught him in the head.

Greene’s attorney, Jomo Thomas argued that his client’s case was one of self-defense. Speaking to Thomas shortly after the announcement of the verdict, Thomas noted that the significance of the case is that his client was about 58 feet away, heading back to where the deceased had picked up the rum. “My client was pursued and the guy fired at him. I think the issue of self defense arose in this case,” Thomas noted.

Thomas said he thinks the response from Greene was proportionate to the challenge. “He didn’t pick up a cutlass. He didn’t chop him. All he did was pick up a stone, fired and ran away…unfortunately that caused the death of his friend,” Thomas stated.

Lawyer Carl Williams led the case for the prosecution. Justice Gertel Thom presided over the matter.(KW)