A man on a murder charge, who changed attorneys 10 times since 2010, was last Wednesday found guilty by a jury and is to be sentenced next month end.

The convicted man, Steve Dawkins, who had been out on bail for the better part of 15 years, was tried for the August 2010 murder of Derrick Lord, a resident of Kirk Avenue in St Andrew.

According to the evidence at the trial, which was presided over by Supreme Court judge Justice Carolyn Tie-Powell in the Home Circuit Court, a neighbour of Lord’s heard shouts of, “Murder, murder, him a kill mi, call the police,” about 8:35 pm on the evening in question and called the police.

The neighbour, a retired district constable, stood guard at the premises until the police arrived.

According to prosecutors, upon arrival, the police climbed over the fence to the front of the premises and went to the back of the house where they saw Dawkins running from inside the house.

He was apprehended, and when asked what he was doing there, replied that he was there to steal mangoes.

The cops then searched the house and found the body of Lord with his hands bound with handcuffs, his mouth gagged with duct tape, and a stab wound to his neck. There was no sign of forced entry.

The crime scene was processed and two spots of blood were found inside the house. They were sent to the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine to be analysed for DNA.

A post-mortem determined that Lord’s cause of death was asphyxia, secondary to choking, due to aspiration of blood caused by a stab wound to the neck. Dawkins was charged and indicted for the offence of murder. The crown’s case was based on circumstantial evidence.

Of the six police witnesses, only one was still a serving member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force when the trial commenced on May 5.

One witness, who now resides in London, United Kingdom, gave evidence via video link. The prosecution called a total eight witnesses to give evidence.

The witnesses testified that contrary to what Dawkins said when he was arrested, that there were no mangoes on any of the trees, anywhere on the premises or any blossom. This was corroborated by the photos taken by the forensic crime scene investigator as the images showed that at the time of the incident, the trees were bare.

The DNA analysis revealed that one of the spots of blood had the same profile as Dawkins and the other spot of blood had a mixed profile which had all the components of Lord’s and Dawkins’ profile.

According to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, in a statement issued to the media on Thursday, the DNA evidence at the scene was a critical factor in this trial.

“The presentation of this evidence by the forensic scientist underscored the importance of scientific evidence in criminal trials and the importance of the Institute of Forensic Science and Legal Medicine,” Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn, King’s Counsel, said.

The DPP was at pains to point out that the multiple changes of attorneys by Dawkins contributed to the inordinate delay of the trial.

“On all occasions that trial dates were set with the new defence attorneys, the Crown was always ready. Notwithstanding the passage of time, all Crown witnesses were available and the Crown called eight witnesses to give evidence at trial,” Llewellyn said.

Dawkins, who has been remanded, will be sentenced on June 26.

The prosecution was represented by Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Judi-Ann Edwards and Crown Counsel Anita Hall. Dawkins was represented by attorneys Kerry-Ann Wilson and Althea Freeman.