Landmark Verdict: Business Tycoons Acquitted

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In a dramatic conclusion to a protracted legal battle, four prominent businessmen from
Montego Bay—Louis Smith, Robert Dunbar, Delroy Gayle, and Melford Daley—have been acquitted
of charges related to an alleged international multi-million-dollar drug smuggling and money
laundering operation.

The trial, which commenced in 2019 at the St. James Parish Court, reached its climax as Parish
Judge Sandria Wong-Small sided with the defence arguments presented by legal heavyweights Hugh
Wildman, King’s Counsel Tom Tavares Finson, Oswest Senior-Smith, and Martyn Thomas

The defence successfully contended that the prosecution had failed to substantiate its case
against the accused.

The four men, initially arrested and charged in 2013, faced accusations stemming from alleged
activities between 1999 and 2005. One pivotal witness for the prosecution, serving a 27-year
prison sentence in the United States for drug offences, testified via video link, implicating
the accused in drug trafficking.

However, the defence, led by Wildman, vehemently challenged the relevance of the U.S. trial
to Jamaican law.

Arguing that the conviction of the prosecution’s witness, Dean Drummond, was legally
inadmissible to establish guilt in Jamaica, Wildman asserted that Drummond’s testimony
couldn’t be relied upon to support the charges against the businessmen.

In a groundbreaking decision, Judge Wong-Small concurred with Wildman’s submissions, leading
to the triumphant acquittal of the accused businessmen.