Christopher Hewertson secures acquittal for promising boxer in 4-handed Kidnap & Robbery trial at Guildford Crown Court
Chris, instructed by Yousaf Kalim of ST Law in Ealing, was representing one of four defendants arrested together in the early hours of the morning in a car in Woking, Surrey in April 2016. The lead defendant escaped from the vehicle and was later convicted unanimously by a jury of the kidnap, robbery and further attempted robbery of the 22 year old complainant. The prosecution case was that all four men were responsible for forcing the victim into the car because of his refusal to cooperate in the lead defendant’s drug-dealing operation; that he was violently assaulted at a remote location and, when injured and bleeding, he was thrown in the boot of another car and kept there, further assaulted and had vodka thrown on him, for up to an hour as the car was driven from site to site. CCTV of the defendants’ activities at a petrol station was shown in detail.
The two-week trial involved several successful, contested applications to exclude evidence, for example the presence in the vehicle of a substantial kitchen knife on which DNA was recovered and attributed. A further application for emergency Legal Aid Funding to instruct blood and DNA experts within 48 hours, regarding the blood stains in the boot of the vehicle, was also successful.
Chris’s client was unanimously acquitted by the jury.
