His attorney had argued for $1 million in damages, but yesterday a court awarded acquitted former murder accused Pedro Deroy Ellis $75 000 for the 18 days he was sent back to prison after the conclusion of his trial.
“It is not so much the amount,” Justice Shona Griffith said. “Compared to what was being asked for, the amount awarded by the court would pale.
“It’s about the fact of what the infringement would have done to [Ellis]. Eighteen days is not a numerical issue. It is the circumstance of the detention,” the judge stressed as she awarded Ellis $50 000 in pecuniary damages.
“I also find that because of the circumstances where, in effect, your freedom was yanked from you at that stage to be worthy of an additional award,” she said as she awarded him an additional $25 000 in vindicatory damages.
It was in 2019 that Ellis, of Morris Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, went on trial for murdering Antonio Harewood, also from Westbury Road, on May 5, 2013. After a three-week trial, the jury found him not guilty of murder but could not decide on manslaughter. (HLE)
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