Former witness shot dead shortly after being released from custody

Less than one hour after being released by police, after being held on suspicions of robbery, Uroy Robinson was once again at the centre of police attention, this time under different circumstances.{{more}}

Robinson, also known as ‘Laybay’, died after receiving a bullet to the left side of his head, around 7:30 p.m., as he walked with friends on the Walvaroo, Sion Hill road on Sunday, September 2.

He died on the spot.

The 24-year-old man, whose address was given as Evesham, had been picked up and detained by police the Friday before, after a young man reported that the deceased had robbed him.

Residents in the Walvaroo area told SEARCHLIGHT on Mondary that they heard a single gunshot, and while some visited the scene where Robinson, who was described as a career criminal, lay dead, others chose to remain indoors.

“I been now come up the road and I pass the man… and go home…. I was just going to eat some porridge and I hear the shot leggo,” one individual told this publication.

“Then one of my friends call me and tell me a man just get kill, so I just stand up on my porch and look down,” the resident said.

The deceased, who was not known to reside in the area, had in recent times, been frequenting the area to visit friends.

“From the first time I see him in the area, I say boy, he hotting up the place… because I know it have plenty people who want him dead,” another resident said.

One person also informed SEARCHLIGHT that Robinson may have got into an argument shortly before he was killed.

Although there was an uneasy calm in the area where the shooting took place, villagers believe that things will return to normal, since they do not expect any reprisals for the young man’s death.

One person, however, lamented that the area is not as it used to be, pointing out that the once peaceful community is now marred by violence.

“Down here never used to stop so…. I feel it because I don’t like the vibes around here,” he stated.

Robinson, no stranger to the legal system and the police, has been prominent on the pages of SEARCHLIGHT over the years.

In 2008, he was sentenced to two years in prison, after he pleaded guilty to discharging a firearm in Redemption Sharpes on March 30 that year.

He was charged with a similar offence on May 8, 2009; possession of an illegal firearm in December that year; and discharging a firearm and assault with intent in January 2010.

In February this year, Robinson refused to give testimony against a police officer, who was charged with conveying to him (Robinson) four cigarettes, one box of matches and one bomb of cannabis, while he (Robinson) was a prisoner. Because of his refusal to testify, charges against the officer were dropped.

Four months ago, Robinson was charged in relation to the robbery of two French naval officers.

Robinson was also the state’s witness in the murder trial of Azari Ash and Che Bute, both of whom were sentenced to life in prison this year, for the 2007 murder of Lloyd ‘Lazarus’ Samuel of Redemption Sharpes. Robinson testified at that trial that he was present when Ash and Bute plotted to kill Samuel.

Two weeks after the men’s July 13, 2012 sentencing, Robinson was shot in his left arm by an unknown assailant.

SEARCHLIGHT understands that Robinson had been receiving death threats recently, and that he had not too long ago signed an affidavit, in which he swore that he had lied under oath in

the Lloyd Samuel murder trial.

During his numerous stints behind bars, attempts had been made on his life, and one former inmate at Her Majesty’s Prison told SEARCHLIGHT that the deceased was ‘lucky’ during these attempts to evade death.

“Well, it seems like his luck run out,” one villager commented.