A man who was accused of murdering 62-year-old Lloyd Montgomery at his home in Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11, in December 2006, has been freed by a Home Circuit Court jury.

Nicholas Henry, 21, of a Kingston address, was arrested and charged in 2007 for the murder but was on bail pending his trial.

The sole eyewitness for the crown testified that she knew Henry before the incident. She said she saw him firing shots at the deceased on the night of December 27, 2006.

Defence lawyer Michael Lorne suggested to the witness that at the preliminary inquiry she had said the man who shot the deceased had a red handkerchief tied across his mouth, nose and cheek.

The witness said she made a mistake at the preliminary inquiry in 2009. She said the shooter had a handkerchief tied above his eyebrow. She said she had made the mistake because she was nervous, under stress and it was her first time in court.

Lorne also suggested to the witness that she told the police in her statement on January 7, 2007 that she did not know the accused before, but at the trial she said she had known him for about two months before the incident.

In response, the witness replied "because you see a person, that does not mean seh you know him".

In an unsworn statement from the dock, Henry, who was also represented by attorneys-at-law Susan Dodd and Arlene Beckford, said he was not in the area at the time of the shooting. He said he did not know the deceased and knew nothing about the murder. The jury retired and found Henry not guilty of the murder charge.